Figure 7.

VSC2 has both anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties in the brain nigrostriatal region. Mice were treated with MPTP only or co-treated with 10 mg·kg⁻¹ VSC2. (A) Immunostaining was conducted against TH (left) and Iba-1 (middle and right) on adjacent nigral sections and they were developed in diaminobenzidine. The density of Iba-1-immunoreactivity was determined (below). (B) Double immunofluorostaining was conducted against TH (left) and Iba-1 (middle) on nigral sections and the two immunofluorographs were merged (right). Scale bars = 200 μm. (C) Striatal tissues were subjected to Western blot against iNOS and COX-2 using β-actin as an internal control. (D) Nigral tissues were subjected to elisa against IL-1β. (E) Striatal tissue samples of two different mice treated with 10 mg·kg⁻¹ VSC2 were subjected to Western blot against Nrf2 and the antioxidant enzymes, using β-actin as an internal control. (A, D) Data are expressed as % of vehicle-treated ± SEM; *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.01 versus vehicle-treated; #P < 0.05 versus MPTP-treated.