Figure 6. Differential effects of in vivo Atg7siRNA transfection on MPP+-induced α-synuclein aggregation in the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system of rat brain.
Intranigral infusion of Atg7siRNA was performed 4 days prior to intranigral infusion of MPP+ (3 µg/µl) in the anesthetized rats. Rats were sacrificed 30 h after intranigral infusion of MPP+. The levels of α-synuclein aggregation in the substantia nigra (SN) were measured using Western blot assay. Each lane contained 25 µg protein for the experiments. Graphs show statistical results of α-synuclein (51 kd) from relative optical density of bands on the blots estimated by Image J software. Values are the mean±S.E.M. (n = 4). *P<0.05 in the MPP+-infused SN compared with the intact SN, # P<0.05 in Atg7siRNA transfected and MPP+-infused SN compared with MPP+-infused SN, n.s. for not significant by Kruskal-Wallis test and followed by Mann-Whitney U test as post-hoc method.