Proposed model of miR-7-mediated protection against MPP+. A, Under normal conditions, cells maintain a basal level of RelA-mediated transcriptional activity inside the nucleus, while most of RelA, along with p50, is kept in the cytoplasm by IκB-α. B, Upon MPP+ exposure, post-translationally modified RelA translocates to the nucleus and binds to the promoter region of target genes. At the same time, modified RelA recruits HDAC, which acts as a corepressor, and results in the suppression of target genes, and ultimately in cell death. C, miR-7 is able to protect against MPP+-induced cell death by decreasing RelA expression, which leads to decreased MPP+-induced suppression of target genes.