Fig. 1. Nurr1 suppresses LPS-induced inflammation and loss of TH+ neurons.
A. TH-DAB staining of a representative brain section of mice injected with shCtrl- or shNurr1-lentivirus and LPS is shown at AP −3.3 mm. Regions indicated by a rectangle in the injected side of the brain are enlarged in the right panels. Scale bars: 200 μm, right panels and 50 μm, left panels. B. Quantification of TH+ cell numbers in the shNurr1 groups compared to the shCtrl-injected and the uninjected side. Bars indicate normal (black) and pathological (gray) TH+ neurons. See Supplemental Experimental Procedures for the definition of normal/pathological TH+ neurons. Asterisk, p<0.01 compared to the numbers from shCtrl-lentivirus-injected. (n=5) C. Fluorescence-TH staining of a representative brain section of mice injected with shCtrl- or shNurr1-lentivirus followed by PBS or LPS. Experimental diagram is indicated at the top. Scale bar 200 μm. D. Quantification of TH+ cell numbers in the setting of Nurr1 knockdown followed by LPS or PBS injection. Asterisk, p<0.002 compared to PBS injection (n=4). E–G. Expression of iNOS (E), TNFα (F) and IL1β (G) mRNA in Nurr1-knockdown SN 6 hours after LPS injection as determined by qPCR and normalized to HPRT expression (n=4). Error bars represent SD. Asterisk, p<0.01 compared to shCtrl/PBS-injected; **, p<0.01 compared to shCtrl/LPS-injected samples.