Figure 3.

Betulin protects Caenorhabditis elegans from 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced dopaminergic (DA) neuron degeneration. L3 stage worms of the transgenic strain BZ555, with green fluorescence protein (GFP) expression in DA neurons, were exposed to 6-OHDA with or without betulin, prior to further culture for 3 d in the presence or absence of betulin. (A) GFP expression pattern in DA neurons of the transgenic C. elegans strain BZ555. Fluorescence images are shown. Scale bar = 50 µm. (B) Graphical representation of the GFP fluorescence intensity pattern in DA neurons of the BZ555 strain, as quantified using ImageJ software. Data are presented as the means ± standard deviations (n = 10). #Indicates significant differences between 6-OHDA-treated and untreated worms (***P < 0.001); *Indicates significant differences between the 6-OHDA-treated control and betulin/6-OHDA-treated groups (*P < 0.05. **P < 0.01).