Figure 10.
DMF treatment was associated with limited regional changes in expression of the synaptic proteins synaptophysin and synapsin I, but not PSD-95, in the brains of SIV-infected macaques. (A,B) No significant differences in PSD-95 (post-synaptic protein) expression were observed in individual regions or overall in the brains with DMF treatment. (C) A significant increase in synaptophysin (pre-synaptic protein) expression was observed in the third ventricle (Student’s unpaired t-test, * p < 0.05) but without a difference in the overall mean brain expression (D) with DMF treatment. (E) A significant decrease in synapsin 1 (pre-synaptic protein) expression was observed in the occipital cortex (Student’s unpaired t-test, * p < 0.05) but without a difference in the overall mean brain expression (F) with DMF treatment. Eleven brain regions from nine SIV-infected rhesus macaques (4 untreated animals and 5 DMF-treated (90 mg total DMF daily)) were analyzed using Western blotting. In the right panels, each dot represents the mean expression of one brain region from all animals in the group. Fc: frontal cortex, 3rdV: third ventricle, Th: thalamus, Pc: parietal cortex, SWM: subcortical white matter, Cr: cerebellum, Bs: brainstem, Bg: basal ganglia, CN: caudate nuclei, Tc: temporal cortex, Oc: occipital cortex. All values are expressed as mean ± SEM.