Figure 1.

(A) Experimental flowchart. [¹⁸F] DOPA, [¹⁸F] FE−PE2I, and [¹⁸F] FEPPA scans were performed at four time points (one before and three after a unilateral 6−hydroxydopamine (6−OHDA) lesion was made to medial forebrain bundle of the animals. Behavior test refers to the apomorphine-induced rotation test. Transplantation was performed three weeks after the 6−OHDA lesion was made. RhCDNF or PBS (vehicle) was administered via intracerebroventricular route at four time points. At 4 and 8 weeks after transplantation, the rats were sacrificed for immunohistochemistry (IHC) studies. (B) The apomorphine−induced rotation behavior test was used to evaluate dopaminergic (DA) function of hemiparkinsonian rats that received PBS (vehicle), rhCDNF alone, rVM, or rVM + rhCDNF. The test was performed before and after transplantation. (C) Functional recovery of the PD rats with rVM grafting at 4 and 8 weeks after transplantation, as revealed by proportion of apomorphine-induced rotation number after 6−OHDA lesioning to after transplantation. RhCDNF treatment further improved functional recovery of PD rats at 8 weeks after transplantation, compared to only rVM grafting. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001 by Tukey’s multiple comparisons test, following two-way ANOVA. # p < 0.05 indicates comparison with the rVM + rhCDNF group with two-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc test. The data represent mean ± SEM.