Fig. 1: shRNA knockdown of endogenous VMAT2 in rat substantia nigra in vivo.
From: Acquired dysregulation of dopamine homeostasis reproduces features of Parkinson’s disease
a Representative image following unilateral AAV2-shVMAT2 injection to the substantia nigra (SN) demonstrating viral transduction, identified by GFP expression (green), and a loss of VMAT2 protein (purple) within TH-positive (blue) neurons. b 90x magnification confocal images of transduced TH-positive neurons in the SN following unilateral AAV2-shControl (top) and AAV2-shVMAT2 (bottom) with corresponding nontransduced contralateral hemispheres. c Quantification of VMAT2 immunoreactivity within AAV2-shControl and AAV2-shVMAT2 transduced TH-positive neurons expressed as a percentage of the immunoreactivity from internal control nontransduced TH-positive neurons in the contralateral hemisphere (unpaired t-test, n = 5 animals per treatment group, p = 0.0005). Each data point represents the average value for an individual animal calculated from at least 100 neurons per animal. d Quantification of TH immunoreactivity within AAV2-shControl and AAV2-shVMAT2 transduced TH-positive neurons expressed as a percentage of the immunoreactivity from internal control TH-positive neurons in the nontransduced contralateral hemisphere. (unpaired t-test, n = 5 animals, n.s.) Each data point represents the average value for an individual animal calculated from at least 100 neurons per animal. Error bars represent mean and standard error of the mean.
