AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is an important sensor of the energy state of the cell. It is activated in skeletal muscle during physical activity and contributes to the regulation of metabolic processes. Since the activation of AMPK improves glucose homeostasis of insulin action, AMPK is an important therapeutic target for the development of new treatments for metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes. Development of new skeletal muscle pharmacological agents requires reliable in vitro experimental models. The aim of the thesis was to check the reliability of monitoring the pharmacological activation of AMPK in skeletal muscle cells, in which range the signal is linear and how the dilution of samples affects the reliability of the assessment of AMPK activation. We assumed that the range of linearity of the signal for pAMPK and AMPK, or pACC and ACC is different at different dilutions and that by applying a lower protein mass, we could improve the knowledge of AICAR-stimulated activation of AMPK by western blotting. We divided the experiments into two parts, so we first tested the action of AICAR and MTX on AMPK activation in rat skeletal muscle cells of the L6 cell line, and then the reliability of monitoring the pharmacological activation of AICAR and MTX on AMPK activation. We confirmed that the combination of AICAR and MTX significantly (compared to control and treatment with AICAR or MTX alone) increases AMPK phosphorylation. We also found that the signal was linear for pAMPK and pACC samples with concentration from 20 % to 80 %. From 80 % concentration onwards, the slope of the graph decreased and was no longer in the linear range. We have also established that the monitoring of pharmacological activation of AMPK by western blotting can be optimized by applying lower protein concentrations in the gel (80 % of the normal protein concentration), as this way we get better results. The signal is thus better in the linear range, while at the same time we use less sample.
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