Figure 1

Effects of β-hydroxybutyric acid (BHBA) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in mesencephalic neuron-glia cultures. Cultures were pretreated for 30 min with vehicle or indicated concentrations of BHBA before treatment with 10 ng/ml LPS. Seven days later, LPS-induced neurotoxicity was assessed by representative immunostaining images (A), the TH-ir neuron count (B), and the level of [³H]DA uptake (C). The scale bar indicates 250 μm. The results are expressed as a percentage of the vehicle-treated control cultures and presented as the mean ± SD from three independent experiments performed in triplicate. **P <0.01 compared with the LPS-treated cultures; and ^## P <0.01 compared with the vehicle-treated cultures.