Figure 10. Anti-inflammatory treatment with CORT does not suppress activation of STAT3, GFAP expression, or neurotoxicity.

Mice were administered MPTP, METH, or TMT alone or after pretreatment with CORT (20 mg/kg, s.c.) 30 minutes earlier and killed at the post-dosing times indicated. Mice were killed by focused microwave irradiation to preserve steady-state phosphorylation of pSTAT3^{tyr 705} and striatal phosphorylation was analyzed by quantification of scans of pSTAT3^tyr705 immunoblots. Representative immunoblot data from two different animals for each dosing groups are presented above the quantitative data obtained from scans. Separate groups of mice killed by decapitation were used to prepare total striatal protein homogenates for ELISA of GFAP and TH. All data points represent mean ± SEM, N = 5. * denotes statistical significance of at least p<0.05 for the neurotoxicant alone or CORT pretreated groups compared to saline controls and # denotes statistical significance of at least p<0.05 for CORT- pretreated groups compared to neurotoxicant only exposed groups. Statistical significance was measured by two-way ANOVA with Fisher's LSD Method of post hoc analysis. See Methods for dosing regimens (single dose METH).