FIGURE 5.

FTY720 stimulates long term increases in BDNF protein in aging Tg mice in association with significantly lower levels of miR206–3p. A, BDNF protein normalized to β-actin on immunoblots confirmed that BDNF was increased in colons of FTY720-treated 21-month-old mice. B, the expression of the regulatory microRNA, miR206–3p, was significantly lower in response to FTY720 treatment of aged Tg mice as compared with vehicle Tg mice. The decrease in miR206–3p was further validated in a control experiment with dopaminergic MN9D cells treated with 160 nm FTY720 for 24 h. (n = 8 mice/treatment group); *, p < 0.05; ***, p < 0.001. Error bars, S.E. for 5A, but not for REST 2009 analyses in 5B, as explained in Statistical Methods.