Figure 3.

Emergence of VGLUT2 without DA neuron loss after heterologous expression of human α-synuclein^A53T. (A) Strategy for unilateral expression of AAV-DIO-human α-synuclein^A53T in the SNc of DAT^Cre mice. (B) AAV construct showing that in the presence of Cre recombinase, α-synuclein^A53T is recombined to allow for cell-type-specific expression. (C) Immunohistochemistry shows expression of GFP or human α-synuclein^A53T, detected in TH+ DA neurons in coronal sections through SNc using the human α-synuclein-specific antibody 15G7. (D) SNc DA neuron counts were not significantly altered 3 months after heterologous expression of α-synuclein^A53T (left), but the fraction of DA neurons expressing VGLUT2 was increased (right); **P < 0.01, two-tailed unpaired t-test.