Fig. 5.

Effects of methylone (4′ – 10, 20 or 30 mg/kg) on methamphetamine (4′ – 2.5 mg/kg)-induced neurotoxicity to DA nerve endings. Mice were treated with methylone (4′ – 10, 20, or 30 mg/ kg) alone or in combination with methamphetamine (4′ – 2.5 mg/kg) and the levels DA (a), dopamine transporter (DAT) (b), tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) (c), and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) (d) were determined 2 days after treatment. Controls were injected with physiological saline on the same binge schedule used for all drugs. DA levels were determined by HPLC and are reported as % control. Relative pixel densities for immunoblots of DAT, TH and GFAP were quantified using ImageJ, normalized to glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), and expressed as relative band density by comparison with the respective control. Data are mean ± SEM for n = 4–6 mice per group. **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 and ****p < 0.0001 by comparison with untreated controls. ^#p < 0.05, ^##p < 0.01, ^###p < 0.001 and ^####p < 0.0001 by comparison with methamphetamine alone. Specific details of all statistical comparisons for the data in this figure are included in Tables S5 and S6.