Figure 3. Sox2 and MCM2 gene expression is increased in the lining of the third ventricle and per-lead region in PD-DBS brains.
Boxplots of gene expression relative to 18S for Sox2: control and PD-DBS groups. The permutation test p-value shows that the expression level is significantly higher in the PD-DBS group at the 0.05 level. Boxplots of expression relative to 18S for MCM2: control and PD-DBS groups. The permutation test p-value shows that the expression level is significantly higher in the PD-DBS group at the 0.05 level. The relative gene expression level was normalized on the basis of the expression of a reference gene (18S) and was also normalized on the basis of the expression of a reference sample (calibrator). Final results are expressed in arbitrary units in gene expression relative to the expression of 18S gene and calibrator sample. The relative expression was calculated by 2−ΔΔCT, where CT = fluorescence threshold value; ΔCT = CT of the target gene – CT of the reference gene (18S); ΔΔCT = ΔCT of the treated sample – ΔCT of the reference sample. A pool of five normal tissue samples served as the reference sample. The increased levels of gene expression of Sox2 and MCM2 correlate with the immunolabelling and cell count data.