α7 nAChR agonist treatment improves the 6-OHDA-induced loss in DAT levels. Rats were administered vehicle or nAChR agonist via minipump and lesioned using 6-OHDA, as described. (A) DAT was measured in the intact and lesioned striatum using 125I-RTI-121 autoradiography. Quantitative analysis (B) shows that 6-OHDA lesioning led to ~70% loss in DAT levels in the lesioned striatum of vehicle-treated rats. However, DAT levels in the agonisttreated group were significantly higher in the lesioned but not intact striatum. Values are the mean ± SEM of 12–25 rats per group. Significance of difference from the vehicle-treated intact side, ***p < 0.001; from vehicle-treated lesioned side, #p < 0.05, ##p < 0.01 using two-way ANOVA followed by a Bonferroni post hoc test.