Figure 1.

α-Syn Tg mice were more sensitive to inflammation-mediated neurotoxicity. (A) Time-dependent loss of nigral DA neurons in α-syn Tg mice, but not WT mice, after LPS injection. (B) Densitometry analysis revealed a 46% decrease in striatal TH immunostaining in Tg mice 5 months after LPS injection. In A and B, numbers within the bars indicate the number of mice in each group at each time point. (C and D) Representative brain images with TH immunostaining 5 months after LPS injection indicate prominent dopaminergic lesions of SN (C) and striatum (D) in Tg mice but not in WT mice. (E) In the SN of LPS-injected Tg mice, the loss of DA neurons (double-labeled with anti-TH antibody in cytoplasm and anti–Neu-N antibody in nuclei) 5 months after LPS was greater than that of non-DA neurons (green nuclear Neu-N staining only). The inset shows a double-labeled DA neuron. In inset, bar = 10 μm.

*p < 0.05 compared with the corresponding NS-injected control.