Fig. 2.

BDNF protects cortical and striatal astrocytes from 3NP-induced death. a Cell viability of cortical and striatal astrocytes treated for 24 h with 3NP 15 mM with or without BDNF 50 ng/ml was evaluated by Trypan blue exclusion assay. Values are the mean number of viable cells/ml ± SEM of n = 4 independent experiments for cortical and striatal astrocytes. The effect of both factors BDNF and 3NP was analyzed by two-way ANOVA: ***p < 0.001 vs. control and ^p < 0.05 and ^^p < 0.01 vs. 3NP. Cortical (b) and striatal (c) astrocytes were incubated for 24 h with 3NP 15 mM with or without BDNF 50 ng/ml and TrkB-T1 protein levels in total cell protein extracts were determined by Western blot. Values represent arbitrary units of TrkB-T1/GAPDH ratio ± SEM of n = 4 independent experiments for cortical and striatal astrocytes. The effect of both factors BDNF and 3NP was analyzed by two-way ANOVA: **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001 vs. control, ^^p < 0.01 and ^^^p < 0.001 vs. 3NP group. Cortical (d) and striatal (e) astrocytes were incubated for 30 min with 3NP 15 mM and with or without BDNF 50 ng/ml and pERK/total ERK protein levels in total cell protein extracts were determined by Western blot. Values represent arbitrary units of the pERK/total ERK ratio ± SEM of n = 5 independent experiments for cortical and striatal astrocytes. The effect of both factors BDNF and 3NP was analyzed by two-way ANOVA: ***p < 0.001 vs. control, ^^^p < 0.001 vs. 3NP group