Figure 5
Inhibition of pKr-2-induced microglial activation in the SN of TLR4-deficient mice.
(a) The loss of TLR4 in KO mice was confirmed by genotyping and western blot analysis of TLR4 expression. (b) Three days after intranigral injection of pKr-2 (24 μg in 2 μL) or PBS as a control, SN sections from WT and TLR4 KO mice were immunostained with anti-Iba1. The pKr-2-induced morphological changes to microglia, which indicate activated forms in the SN of WT mice, were reduced in TLR4 KO mice. (c) Consistent with increased microglial activation, western blot analysis showed significant increases in both IL-1β and TNF-α in the SN of pKr-2-treated WT mice compared with PBS-treated control mice. *p < 0.001 and #p = 0.031, respectively, vs. PBS (n = 4, each group). However, there was no increase in IL-1β and TNF-α expression in the SN of pKr-2-treated TLR4 KO mice compared with PBS-treated controls.
