Fig. 3.

a Western blot of α-syn and quantification showing increased α-syn protein levels in the midbrain after cocaine administration.) Confocal images of VTA tissue and quantification of labeled axon terminal puncta (bar graph) showing increased co-labeling for α-syn and glutamate (teal puncta/bar) when cocaine is systemically present, but increased co-labeling for α-syn and GABA (yellow puncta/bar) when cocaine is systemically absent after repeated administration. Scale bar = 25 μm. c Electron micrographs of VTA tissue from saline- and repeated cocaine-treated mice showing that cocaine increases both pre- and postsynaptic α-syn immunolabeling (green labels); scale bar = 500 nm. d Proportion of neuronal and glial profiles showing increasing α-syn immunolabeling after cocaine; *p < 0.05