Figure 4.

Diet induced brain changes in aged mice. (A) Striatal Mn concentration was significantly increased by high Mn diet in females but not males. (B) Brain weight was significantly lower in YAC128 mice compared to WT in both sexes. Brains from female YAC128 mice on high Mn diet weighed significantly less than YAC128 mice on control diet. Brains from males on high Mn diet weighed less than those on control diet. (C) TH expression was lower in YAC128 females compared to WT females, with no effect of diet in either sex. (D) There were no differences in pTH Ser 31 nor (Ei) the pTH/TH ratio among genotype and diet groups in either sex. (Eii) Representative blots for pTH and TH in females only. (F) No significant changes in pERK/ERK expression. (G) DAT expression was not significantly increased in groups on high Mn diet. n=6-9 per genotype-diet group for females, n=3-7 per genotype-diet group for males. For all, mean ± S.E.M. plotted unless otherwise noted. *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ****P<0.0001 indicate main effect of genotype, # P<0.05 indicates a main effect of Mn effect except where specific pairs are indicated with a horizontal bracket denoting Sidak’s post-hoc comparisons following a significant genotype x treatment interaction.