Fig. 1

Beclin 1 is cleaved in human Alzheimer’s disease brains. a Schematic depicting different domains of Beclin 1 and estimated fragment sizes of cleavage products. Bcl-2-homology 3 domain (BH3), coiled-coil domain (CCD) and evolutionarily conserved domain (ECD). Beclin 1 has two conserved caspase-cleavage sites near the N-terminus. b Representative Western blots of RIPA-soluble brain lysates from human Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients and age-matched controls were probed with anti-Beclin 1, anti-caspase 3, anti-Neuron specific enolase (NSE) and anti-Actin antibodies. c-e Quantification of FL-beclin (c), C-beclin (d) and N-beclin (e). f Quantification of activated cleaved caspase 3. g, h Quantifications of NSE (g) and Actin (h), used as loading controls. For all quantitative analyses Beclin 1 and caspase levels were normalized to the actin loading control (n = 12 for AD, n = 11 for control group). Data expressed as mean + SEM; *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; unpaired Student’s t-test