Figure 1.
Striatal gene transfer of TH and GCH1 genes using rAAV5 vectors. The efficiency of the rAAV5–TH vector was assessed by immunohistochemical staining of sections with antibodies against TH (a, d) and GCH1 (b, e) proteins as well as the NeuN neuronal marker (c, f). d–f are high-power views from the same sections as illustrated in a–c, respectively. TH staining shows a widespread expression of the transgenic human TH protein, in which numerous cell bodies and their dendritic projections are filled in the dorsal striatum (d). GCH1 expression is visualized using an antibody that specifically recognized the human GCH1 protein (b, e). Nonspecific effects of transduction was assessed by NeuN staining, which indicated that there were no apparent toxicity of striatal neurons on the injected side of the brain (c, f). Coexpression of TH and GCH1 proteins restored the in vivo DOPA synthesis capacity to normal levels in the lesioned striatum (g). * indicates different from the intact side; † indicates different from the respective lesion side from the TH + GCH1 group. Kruskal–Wallis nonparametric test, χ2(3,19) = 12.23, p < 0.01, followed by post hoc comparisons using Mann–Whitney U test with Bonferroni's correction. Scale bar: a–c, 500 μm; d–f, 25 μm.