Fig. 4

Compensatory use of glycolytic products for oxidative phosphorylation in the absence of PPARα. a, b In wild-type retinas, OCR was unchanged by addition of 5 mM pyruvate (Pyr) relative to 0.5 mM Pyr (Veh) control, suggesting that pyruvate was not readily used as an oxidizable substrate in normal conditions (Veh, n = 11; Pyruvate, n = 10). c, d In Pparα ^-/- retinas, maximal OCR was increased by pyruvate, suggesting that it was more readily used as an oxidizable substrate in the absence of PPARα (Veh, n = 11; Pyruvate, n = 9). e Oral administration of PPARα agonist Fenofibrate (Feno) prior to tissue harvest did not change oxygen consumption in isolated rat retinal mitochondria (Mitos) provided with pyruvate as an oxidizable substrate (n = 4). *P ≤ 0.05; **P ≤ 0.01; ****P ≤ 0.0001, unpaired two-tailed Student’s t test