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. 2003 Jun 15;23(12):5141–5148. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.23-12-05141.2003

Figure 3.

Figure 3.

GDNF injected into the striatum reduces natural cell death among DA neurons of the SN. A, Rat pups were injected intrastriatally with 1.0 μg/1.0 μl GDNF (Amgen), BDNF (Intergen), or cytochrome c (CYTO C) on P1 or P2 (but always within 24 hr of birth) and were killed the next day. All apoptotic profiles within the SN meeting cellular or regional criteria for being dopaminergic were counted on all available sections from each brain and expressed as the mean number of apoptotic profiles per section. There is a significant (p < 0.001; ANOVA) decrease in the number of apoptotic profiles on the injected side (E, experimental) of the GDNF animals. There is a trend for an effect on the noninjected, contralateral (C, control) side, but this did not reach significance. B, The sections analyzed in A were also analyzed for only those profiles that met cellular criteria for being dopaminergic, i.e., these were apoptotic profiles with TH-positive cytoplasm. This analysis confirms the ability of GDNF to suppress natural cell death in DA neurons.