Fig. 4

Intratracheal administration of silica induced hippocampal synapse damage and increased Aβ levels. Pre- and post-synaptic marker proteins (synaptophysin and PSD-95, respectively; A, B), Aβ42 (C), BACE1 (D), APP (E), and pSer473-Akt (F) were determined in hippocampal homogenates 15 days after intratracheal administration of silica (N = 9 Ctrl mice, 7 Si mice). Actin and cyclophilin were used as loading controls, as shown (bottom of the representative figures). Data are expressed as mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05, Student’s t-test