Fig. 5: Synergistic effects of AEG-1 and Rheb(S16H) in the disrupted nigrostriatal DA system in vivo.

a Experimental schematic. b, c Total distance traveled for 5 min and velocity in the open-field test. *p < 0.001 vs. intact controls; ^##p = 0.010 and ^###p < 0.001 vs. 6-OHDA alone; ^§p = 0.007 vs. 6-OHDA + AAV-Rheb(S16H) group (one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test; n = 5 for each group). ^#p = 0.008 vs. 6-OHDA alone (t-test). d Motor deficits measured by using the rotarod test. *p < 0.001 and **p = 0.002 vs. intact controls; ^#p < 0.001 and ^##p = 0.002 vs. 6-OHDA alone; ^§p = 0.006 vs. 6-OHDA + AAV-Rheb(S16H) group (n = 5 for each group). e, f Representative coronal SN (scale bar, 200 μm) and STR (scale bar, 1000 μm) sections stained with anti-TH at 11 weeks post-lesion. g Quantitative analysis showing the population of preserved TH-positive neurons in the SN. *p < 0.001 vs. intact controls; ^#p = 0.006 vs. 6-OHDA alone (n = 3 for each group). h The histogram shows the optical densities of the striatal TH-positive fibers. *p < 0.001 vs. intact controls; ^#p < 0.001 and ^##p = 0.001 vs. 6-OHDA alone; ^§p = 0.003 vs. 6-OHDA + AAV-Rheb(S16H) group (n = 3 for each group). i The levels of striatal dopamine, which were measured with high-performance liquid chromatography, were quantitatively expressed as a percentage of intact control. *p < 0.001 vs. intact controls; ^#p < 0.001, ^##p = 0.024 and ^###p = 0.028 vs. 6-OHDA alone; ^§p = 0.024 vs. 6-OHDA + AAV-Rheb(S16H) group [n = 4 for AAV-GFP + 6-OHDA + AAV-Rheb(S16H) group; n = 5 for the other groups]. One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test was used in d and g–i