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. 2020 Oct 3;21(19):7329. doi: 10.3390/ijms21197329

Figure 5.

Figure 5

Stereological assessment of the total numbers of TH-positive cell bodies in the SNpc at all three levels: rostral, middle, and caudal. Multiple intra-striatal 6-OHDA injections caused a dramatic loss of TH-positive neurons in the SNpc compared with the vehicle-treated animals (ANOVA, rostral, middle, caudal, and total, p ˂ 0.000 ***, at all levels). The neuroprotective effect of curcumin, through an α7-receptor mediated mechanism, was marked in the group treated with curcumin at all rostro-caudal levels: rostral (A); middle (B); and caudal (C) in comparison with the 6-OHDA-treated group (ANOVA, rostral p ˂ 0.003 **, middle p ˂ 0.000 ***, and caudal p ˂ 0.000 ***). MLA, an α7-receptor blocker, reversed the protective effect of curcumin in the 6-OHDA+Cur+MLA group (ANOVA, p ˂ 0.000 *** at all levels). The antagonist MLA had no effect on its own, as indicated by the results from the 6-OHDA+MLA group, which exhibited no statistical difference from the 6-OHDA+Cur+MLA group or 6-OHDA-injected rats (ANOVA, NS, at all levels). Scale bar = 1 mm.