Figure 7. Immunocytochemical analysis of the effects of systemic delivery of the siα-syn conjugated to C2-9r or ApoB¹¹ peptides on total neurons in the brain of α-syn tg mice.

Four-month-old α-syn tg and non-tg mice received repeated intraperitoneal injections of scrambled siRNA (si-sc) or α-syn siRNA (si-αsyn) conjugated with either C2-9r or ApoB¹¹ and were sacrificed 4 weeks later for analysis. Sections were immunolabeled with an antibody against the neuronal marker NeuN and analyzed by bright field microscopy and stereology (dissector method). (A) Representative images from the neocortex, hippocampus and striatum of non-tg and α-syn tg mice treated with either si-sc or si-αsyn conjugated with C2-9r or ApoB¹¹. Stereological estimates of total NeuN-positive neuronal counts in the hemibrain in the (B) neocortex, (C) hippocampus (CA3), and (D) striatum. One-way ANOVA with poshoc Dunnet when comparing to control and Tukey-Kramer when comparing in between groups. Statistical significance p < 0.05 compared to: * non-tg mice; ** C2-9r/si-sc α-syn-tg mice; # ApoB¹¹/si-sc α-syn-tg mice. Scale bar represents 250 μm for low magnification panels and 25 μm for higher magnification panels. Non-tg (n=16) and α-syn tg (n=24).