Figure 2
Rheb(S16H) protects the nigrostriatal DA pathway from pKr-2-induced neurotoxicity in vivo. (a) Representative coronal sections of the SN and striatum following TH immunostaining. CON, contralateral control side. Scale bars, 200 and 500 μm in the SN and striatum, respectively. The small panels show higher magnifications of the SN. Scale bar, 50 μm. (b) Quantification of TH-positive neurons at 7 days after pKr-2 treatment. EXP, ipsilateral injected side. The histogram quantitatively shows TH-positive neurons in the counting area of the ipsilateral SN as a percentage of those in the contralateral controls. *P<0.001 vs contralateral controls, #P<0.01 vs pKr-2 alone (one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc analysis; n=4, each experimental group). All values are expressed as the mean±standard error of the mean (s.e.m.). (c) Quantitative determination of striatal TH immunostaining. The histogram shows the optical density of TH-positive fibers at 7 days after pKr-2 treatment. *P<0.001 vs contralateral controls, #P<0.001 vs pKr-2 alone (one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc analysis; n=4, each experimental group). All values are expressed as the mean±s.e.m. (d, e) Western blot analysis of TH expression at 7 days after pKr-2 treatment in the SN and striatum. The density of TH bands was normalized to the density of the β-actin band for each sample. *P<0.01 and **P<0.05 vs contralateral controls, #P<0.01 and ##P<0.05 vs pKr-2 alone (one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc analysis; n=3, each experimental group). All values are expressed as the mean±s.e.m. (f) Representative horizontal sections of the medial forebrain bundle (MFB) following TH immunofluorescence staining. Scale bar, 10 μm. (g) Quantification of TH-positive axons at 7 days after injection of pKr-2. The histogram quantitatively shows TH-positive axons in the counting area of the ipsilateral MFB as a percentage of those in the contralateral controls. *P<0.001 and **P<0.01 vs contralateral controls, #P<0.001 vs pKr-2 alone (one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc analysis; n=4, between groups). All values are expressed as the mean±standard error of the mean (s.e.m.).
