Fig. 1

Time course of dopaminergic degeneration in the acute MPTP mouse model. a Experimental design. Mice were injected intraperitoneally with saline or MPTP (20 mg/kg) every 2 h to a total of 4 doses in 1 day. Animals were sacrificed at 2 h and at 1, 2, 4, and 7 days (d) after the last injection. Right hemispheres were fixed for immunohistochemistry (IHC) and left hemispheres were processed for gene expression analysis (RNA). b TH immunostaining in striatum and substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc). c Optical densitometry of striatal TH-positive dopaminergic fibers. d Stereological cell counts of dopaminergic neurons in SNpc. Bars are means + SEM of seven to eight mice per group. **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001 vs. saline; one-way ANOVA and Newman-Keuls post hoc test. Scale bars: 500 μm (striatum) and 200 μm (SNpc)