Figure 7.

HIV-1 Tat protien, but not the modified Exo-Tat, induces reduction of synaptophysin in mouse brain. Vehicle control (200 μl PBS ), AAV-Exo-Tat viruses or AAV-Tat viruses (1 × 10¹² GC in 200 μl PBS) were injected into mice via tail vein. Three weeks later, the mice were anesthetized with isoflurane. The whole brain was taken out. About 500 μg of brain was used to prepare brain lysate. Twenty microgram of brain lysate was used for western blot to determine the expression levels of neuronal cytoskeletal maker β3-tubulin and synaptic markers postsynaptic density 95 protein (PSD95) and presynaptic vesicle protein p38 (synaptophysin). β-Actin was used as a loading control. (A) Protein expression levels by western blot (C2: control mouse 2, E2: AAV-Exo-Tat mouse 2, T2: AAV-Tat mouse 2, C3: control mouse 3, E3: AAV-Exo-Tat mouse 3, T3: AAV-Tat mouse 3). (B) Relative synaptophysin level normalized to β-actin level. Note: n = 3, p < 0.05 indicates statistically significant.