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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Jun 13.
Published in final edited form as: Brain Res. 2011 Apr 22;1395:94–107. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2011.04.036

Figure 5. Expression of shRNA-SNCA alone results in a greater loss of DA neurons than expression of shRNA-Luc alone.

Figure 5

Brains from rats that received stereotaxic injection of either AAV-CBA-shRNA-SNCA (upper panels) or AAV-CBA-shRNA-Luc (lower panels) into one SN for 9 weeks were examined for cell viability using H&E (a) and for TH-IR (b). Figure 5a shows brains that were examined for cell viability with H&E. Panels show uninjected SN in the left column and injected SN in the right column. Note the reduced number of large neurons in SN after injection of AAV-H1-shRNA-SNCA alone, but not after injection of AAV-H1-shRNA-Luc alone. Size bar: 200 μm. Figure 5b shows uninjected SN in the left column and injected SN in the middle column. Merged images of TH-IR (red) and GFP fluorescence in the injected SN are shown in the right column. Green fluorescence represents cells transduced with AAV-CMV-shRNA-SNCA (upper panel) or AAV-H1-shRNA-Luc (lower panel). Both silencing vectors led to loss of TH-IR neurons, but loss of TH-IR was more severe with the SNCA-specific silencing vector. Size bar, 100 μm.