Figure 3.

The relative gene expression profiles of laser-microdissected SN and VTA dopamine neurons. Expression levels were compared using qPCR for dopamine neuron genes: DAT (a); TH (b); Vmat2 (c); NURR1 (d); and the GABA neuron gene, GAD65 (e). Note, significantly different expression levels were only found for TH and NURR1 transcripts, where there was an increase in VTA microdissected dopamine neurons relative to SN. The Ct for each gene was normalized to the Ct for the 18S rRNA reference gene, and data are presented as mean fold change in expression relative to SN ± SEM. Asterisks indicate significant difference relative to SN. *P ≤ 0.05, **P ≤ 0.01, and ***P ≤ 0.001; n = 3.