Skip to main content
. 2014 May 27;124(7):3032–3046. doi: 10.1172/JCI72176

Figure 1. ALDH1A1-negative nigrostriatal DA neurons in the dorsal SNpc are preferentially degenerated in A53T transgenic mice.

Figure 1

(A) TH staining (brown) of midbrain coronal sections (top, bregma –2.90, bottom, bregma –3.20) of 18-month-old A53T and littermate nTg female mice. (B) Number of TH-positive neurons remaining in SNpc of 1-month-old (n = 3 per genotype) and 18-month-old (n = 5 per genotype) A53T and littermate nTg female mice. (C) Volume of SNpc of 18-month-old A53T and littermate nTg female mice (n = 5 per genotype). (D) Minimal distance between neighboring DA neurons in SNpc of 18-month-old A53T and littermate nTg female mice. 1,336 and 1,060 nigrostriatal DA neurons from 3 pairs of A53T and nTg mice were analyzed, respectively. (E) 3D reconstruction of TH-positive neurons distributed in SNpc, VTA, and retrorubral field (RRF) of 18-month-old A53T and control nTg female mice. Arrows point to DM tier of DA neurons in SNpc of nTg and A53T mice. D, dorsal; L, lateral; Ro, rostral. (F) Representative images show TH and ALDH1A1 staining in midbrain coronal sections (bregma –2.92) of 1- and 18-month-old A53T and 18-month-old nTg female mice. Arrowheads indicate DM ALDH1A1-negative DA neurons. Arrowheads point to the DM tier of SNpc. (G) Representative images show ALDH1A1 and TH staining in DA neurons of 1-month-old A53T nTg mice. (H) Numbers of TH-positive/ALDH1A1-positive DA neurons and (I) TH-positive/ALDH1A1-negative DA neurons remaining in SNpc of 1-month-old (n = 3 per genotype) and 18-month-old (n = 5 per genotype) A53T and nTg female mice. (J–L) Numbers of total (J) TH-positive, (K) TH-positive/ALDH1A1-positive, and (L) TH-positive/ALDH1A1-negative DA neurons remaining in VTA of 1-month-old (n = 3 per genotype) and 18-month-old (n = 5 per genotype) A53T and nTg female mice. Scale bar: 100 μm (A and F); 20 μm (G). (A and F) The dashed line marks the boundary between SNpc and VTA. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.