FIG. 9.

Knockdown of TRPM7 expression with TRPM7-small interference RNA (siRNA) inhibits the H₂O₂-induced injury of cultured mouse cortical neurons. At 8 days after culture, mouse cortical neurons were transfected with TRPM7-siRNA-green fluorescent protein (GFP) (a) or control-siRNA-GFP (b). H₂O₂-induced injury was analyzed 3 days after transfection. Alive/dead cells were counted based on the morphology of cells and confirmed by PI staining. In 11 neurons (from three separated cultures) transfected with TRPM7-siRNA-GFP, all of them stayed alive 6 h after 1 h incubation with 100 μM H₂O₂. In contrast, in 13 neurons transfected with control-siRNA-GFP, only 7 stayed alive (p < 0.05, Chi-square test). Arrows point to the same neurons before and 6 h after 1 h μM H₂O₂. (To see this illustration in color the reader is referred to the web version of this article at www.liebertonline.com/ars).