Fig. 4.

Puerarin increased the vesicular monoamine transporter-2 (VMAT2) mRNA (A) [*p < 0.05 compared with those in vehicle group tissue, normalized by β-actin or Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH)] and protein levels (B–H) in rat midbrain substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc). (B) Quantification of VMAT2 immunostaining in different groups, which showed that VMAT2 was upregulated 1.72-fold in the SNc of puerarin rats, compared with the vehicle rats. (*p < 0.05 compared with the VMAT2 protein level in the respective control SNc). (C–H) VMAT2 immunostaining in the SNc of vehicle and puerarin rats, respectively. The nuclear was stained by 4’,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI; scale bar = 20 μm) SNCA = α-synuclein