Fig. 6: Encapsulated-cell biodelivery of PSAP protects against AAV-α-synuclein-induced parkinsonism in rats.
A Schematic representation of simultaneous unilateral intranigral AAV-α-syn injection and ipsilateral striatal ECB device implantation. B Timeline of experiments. C Representative tracking images of all groups of rats (AAV-α-syn, AAV-α-syn & ECB, AAV-α-syn & ECB-PSAP, AAV-α-syn & ECB-PGRN, and AAV-α-syn & ECB-PSAP-PGRN) in the open field test at 2w, 8w, and 12w. D Quantification of distance traveled in the open field test of all groups of rats at 2w (gray), 8w (orange), and 12w (black). N = 6, 8, 8, 8, 8 rats in five groups, respectively. Repeated measures two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s post hoc test was applied; *compared to 2w, # interactions. E Quantification of apomorphine-induced net contralateral rotation of all groups of rats. N = 6, 8, 7, 8, 8 rats in five groups, respectively. Kruskal–Wallis test followed by Dunn’s post-hoc test was applied. F Representative images of α-syn (top), DAT (middle), and VMAT2 (bottom) immunohistochemical staining in striatal sections of all groups of rats. Scale bar, 1 mm. G, H Densitometry analysis of ipsilateral DAT (G) and VMAT2 (H) immunoreactivity in the striatum of all groups of rats. Values are normalized to the mean value of their corresponding contralateral immunoreactivity. N = 6, 8, 7, 7, 7 rats in five groups, respectively. One-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s post hoc test was applied in (G), and Kruskal–Wallis test followed by Dunn’s post hoc test was applied in (H). Data in (E, G, H) are presented as mean ± S.E.M. */#p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.
