Figure 2.

Ex vivo and in vivo evaluation of luciferase expression in the striatum of recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV)2/1-tetON-injected mice. rAAV2/1-LUC vector (8.3 × 10⁷ vg) was stereotaxically-injected in the striatum of CD1 mice (n = 7). (a) Mice were stereotaxically-injected with rAAV2/1-M2-LUC (circles) or rAAV2/1-V16-LUC (squares) and treated with increasing Dox doses starting immediately after injection until the end of the experiment (n = 7 for each Dox dose and for the two vectors). Five weeks postinjection, bioluminescence was evaluated in striatal protein extracts. ***P < 0.001 versus untreated mice. (b) Mice were stereotaxically-injected with rAAV2/1-V16-LUC and treated with Dox at a dose of 6 g/kg diet starting immediately after injection until the end of the experiment. Six weeks (n = 5 for no Dox and n = 4 for Dox) or 30 weeks (n = 7 for no Dox and Dox) postinjection, bioluminescence was evaluated in striatal extracts. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01 versus untreated mice. (c) Mice stereotaxically-injected with rAAV2/1-V16-LUC were continuously treated with Dox at a dose of 6 g/kg diet starting immediately after injection (n = 7 and n = 4 for no Dox and Dox groups, respectively). Bioluminscence imaging was performed at 5 weeks postinjection. *P < 0.05 using a Student t-test. (d) After 5 weeks of treatment with Dox diet (6 g/kg), mice (n = 4) were fed with unsupplemented food (Dox withdrawal) and bioluminescence imaging was performed every 2 days, starting 1 day post-Dox withdrawal. After an additional period of 5 weeks, the mice received Dox diet (6 g/kg) and bioluminescence imaging was performed at the additional indicated days until day 34. RLU, relative light units; cpm/cm2 counts per minute per cm².