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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Neurobiol Dis. 2010 Sep 25;41(1):201–208. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2010.09.007

Figure 4. Effect of bpV(pic) and co-treatment with LY294002 on Akt Thr308 phosphorylation and hippocampal apoptosis.

Figure 4

(A) Representative phospho-Akt (Thr308) and Akt Western blot. Total Akt levels were unaffected by any of the inhibitor treatments. Bar graph shows results of densitometric analysis of phospho-Akt band from 6–10 individual animals per time point corrected for β-actin. Data are expressed as the percentage of the mean ± SEM of mock-infected animals (=100%). *P<0.05, **P<0.01 vs. mock-infected. (B) Images show representative Nissl and TUNEL double-stained sections of the dentate gyrus of animals mock-infected (top left), infected (top right), infected + bpV(pic) (bottom left) or infected + bpV(pic) + LY294002 (bottom right). Asterisk marks ventricle adjacent to the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, which are inflamed in infected animals. Scale bar 50 μm. Arrowheads in the insets point at cells with apoptotic morphology (i.e., presence of apoptotic bodies or fragmented dark nuclei) and/or TUNEL-positive cells. Scale bar 20 μm. (C) Morphologically apoptotic cells were counted in the upper and lower blade of the dentate gyrus, and the mean was calculated from four sections spanning the entire hippocampus. Results represent the mean ± SEM number of apoptotic cells from n=6 (mock-infected), 17 (infected), 11 (infected + bpV(pic), 16 (infected + bpV(pic) + LY294002), and 15 (infected + LY294002) animals expressed relative to infected animals without treatment (=100%). **P<0.01 and ***P<0.001. Stereotaxic treatment with DMSO alone had no effect on meningitis-induced apoptosis (not shown). (D) TUNEL-positive cells were counted in the upper and lower blade of the dentate gyrus, and the mean was calculated from four sections spanning the entire hippocampus. Results represent the mean ± SEM number of TUNEL-positive cells from n=3 (mock-infected), 9 (infected), 8 (infected + bpV(pic), 7 (infected + bpV(pic) + LY294002), and 7 (infected + LY294002) animals expressed relative to infected animals without treatment (=100%). *P<0.05 and ***P<0.001.