Figure 6.

nNOS reduction abolishes the neuroprotective effects of sunitinib against MPP ⁺‐induced neuronal death in SH‐SY5Y cells. (A) SH‐SY5Y cells were transfected with pG418‐GFP plasmid (vector), pG418‐GFP plasmid encoding nNOS ShRNA (ShnNOS), and pG418‐GFP plasmid encoding negative control ShRNA (ShNC). Forty‐eight hours after transfection, the level of nNOS and β‐actin in the cell lysates was analyzed by Western blotting assay. (B) nNOS reduction abolished the neuroprotective effects of sunitinib against MPP ⁺‐induced neuronal death. SH‐SY5Y cells transfected with vector, ShnNOS, or ShNC were treated with or without 0.3 μM sunitinib for 2 h and then exposed to 1 mM MPP ⁺. Cell viability was measured at 24 h after MPP ⁺ challenge by MTT assays. Data were the mean ± SEM of three separate experiments; **P < 0.01 versus control; ^## P < 0.01 versus MPP ⁺ group; ^& P < 0.05 versus MPP ⁺ vector group (Tukey's test). nNOS, neuronal nitric oxide synthase.