Figure 9. Immunocytochemical analysis of the effects of systemic delivery of the siα-syn conjugated to C2-9r or ApoB¹¹ peptides on astrogliosis in the brains 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 to either C2-9r or ApoB¹¹ and were sacrificed 4 weeks later for analysis. Sections were immunolabeled with an antibody against the astroglial cell marker glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). (A) Representative images of the patters of GFAP immunoreactivity in 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. Image analysis of levels of GFAP immunoreactivity expressed as corrected optical density 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. * indicates statistical significance p < 0.05 compared to non-tg mice. ** p < 0.05 compared to C2-9r/si-sc. # indicates statistical significance p < 0.05 compared to α-syn-tg mice treated with ApoB¹¹/si-sc. 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).