Figure 5. Trimethylamine N-oxide treatment alleviated the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and apoptosis of cells expressing G98R αA-crystallin (CRYAA). A: TMAO (100 mM, 2 days) reduced expression of ER stress and UPR markers (PERK, BiP, and CHOP/GADD153) that were upregulated in G98R CRYAA cells. No specific change was observed for WT cells. B: Reduced caspase-3 expression in G98R CRYAA cells treated with TMAO. The asterisk indicates a p<0.05 by independent Student t test. C: Fewer G98R CRYAA cells exhibited fragmented nuclei after TMAO treatment.