Fig. 7: Effect of MPTP on GAL3 expressing cells and of SNpc of WT and TH-C3KO animals.

a Quantification of GAL3⁺ cells in immunostained sections of WT and TH-C3KO animals injected with saline solution or MPTP. b, c Coronal sections of SNpc immunostained for GAL-3 and TH of TH-C3KO/MPTP condition with colored arrows pointing out different staining patterns for GAL-3 as detailed in Results section. Scale bar, 20 µm (b), 10 µm (c). d–f Imaris reconstruction analysis of coronal sections of SNpc immunostained for GAL-3 and TH of TH-C3KO/MPTP condition. In (d, e), the presence of phagocytic cups (white arrows in d, e) and dotted GAL-3 labeling on the surface of dopaminergic neurons (light blue arrows in d) is depicted. Scale bar, 10 µm (d), 5 µm (e). Panel (f) depicts a phagocytic cup revealing the presence of cell-to-cell contact in blue. Scale bar, 10 µm. g Coronal sections of SNpc showing immunostained cells for TH and CD68 of WT and TH-C3KO animals injected with saline solution or MPTP and analysed 4 days after the last injection. Yellow arrows mark overlapped staining areas in TH-C3KO/MPTP. Scale bar, 30 µm. h Higher magnification area of TH-C3KO/MPTP condition showing also PI labelling pointed by arrow. Scale bar, 20 µm. i Quantification of CD68⁺ cells in immunostained sections of WT and TH-C3KO animals injected with saline solution or MPTP and analysed 4 days after the last injection. j Coronal section of SNpc immunostained for TH, CD68 and GAL-3 of TH-C3KO/MPTP condition. Yellow arrow highlights overlapped staining area. Scale bar, 20 µm. Data represent the mean ± SEM from at least three animals. Statistical analysis: One-way ANOVA followed by the Fisher’s LSD post hoc test for multiple comparisons was used, with α = 0.05: (a), compared with the WT/saline group; (b), compared with the TH-C3KO/saline group; (c), compared with the WT/MPTP ; p < 0.001.