Figure 1.

Homer 1a is neuroprotective in vitro. Traumatic injury was induced in mice neuronal cultures for 48 h. The expression of Homer 1a mRNA was measured by real-time PCR (a), and the expression of Homer 1a protein was measured by western blot analysis (b). The data are represented as the mean±S.E.M. from five experiments. *P<0.05 versus control. The distribution of Homer 1a and MAP2 (neurons) before and after traumatic injury is shown via immunofluorescence staining (c). DAPI was used to stain the nuclei. Scale bar=20 μm. The expression of Homer 1a was assessed by western blot in cortical neurons expressing different lentiviruses (d and e). After transfection and traumatic injury, cell viability was measured by the WST assay (f), cytotoxicity was determined by the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay (g) and the cell death rate was assessed by PI/Hoechst staining (h). The data are represented as the mean±S.E.M. from five experiments. *P<0.05 versus vector; ^#P<0.05 versus shRNA H1a