Trehalose induced podocyte autophagy in an mTOR independent manner.

mTOR activity was not altered in trehalose-treated podocytes. Podocytes were treated with trehalose (50 mM) for 0, 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60 h. The phosphorylation level of p-mTOR (A) and its substrates p-p70S6K (B) and p-4E-BP1 (C) were measured by Western blotting, n = 5, 5 and 6 respectively. However, no significant changes were observed. The representative immunoblot was shown along with the statistical results.