Figure 2.

Rapa protects against dopaminergic neuron loss in the SN of MPTP-treated mice.

(A) Western blotting analysis of TH and α-synuclein protein levels. (B) TH-positive cells were stained by immunocytochemistry and observed through a fluorescence microscope. Black arrows indicate TH-positive cells. Scale bars: 500 μm (upper) and 100 μm (lower). Lower panels are enlarged images of the boxes in the upper panels. (C) Number of TH-positive cells. The experiments were performed in triplicate. Data are expressed as the mean ± SEM (n = 6–8 per group). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 (one-way analysis of variance followed by Tukey’s post hoc test). GAPDH: Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase; MPTP: 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine; Rapa: rapamycin; RSL3: methyl (1S,3R)-2-(2-chloroacetyl)-1-(4-methoxycarbonylphenyl)-1,3,4,9-tetrahyyridoindole-3-carboxylate; SN: substantia nigra; TH: tyrosine hydroxylase.