Research Paper Volume 11, Issue 24 pp 12733—12753

The loss of dopaminergic neurons in DEC1 deficient mice potentially involves the decrease of PI3K/Akt/GSK3β signaling

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Figure 7. LiCl rescues the DA neuron loss in the midbrain in the 6-month-old DEC1-null mice. (A) Immunohistochemical staining of TH+ DA neurons in the SNpc of DEC1+/+, DEC1-/- and DEC1-/- treated with LiCl groups (n=4 in each group). (B) Stereological counts of TH+ cells in the SNpc of DEC1+/+, DEC1-/- and DEC1-/- treated with LiCl groups (Two-way AONVA, gene: F(1,12)=19.645, p=0.001; LiCl: F(1,12)=13.443, p=0.003). (C, D) TH (Two-way AONVA, gene: F(1,7)=17.428, p=0.004; LiCl: F(1,9)=7.569, p=0.028) and DAT (Two-way AONVA, gene: F(1,9)=8,816, p=0.016; LiCl: F(1,9)=16.653, p=0.003) expression in the midbrain of DEC1+/+, DEC1-/- and DEC1-/- treated with LiCl mice using Western blotting (n=4 in each group). (E, F) Levels of p-GSK3β (Two-way AONVA, gene: F(1,7)=7.799, p=0.027; LiCl: F(1,7)=10.844, p=0.013) and β-catenin expression (Two-way AONVA, gene: F(1,9)=10.838, p=0.009; LiCl: F(1,9)=31.717, p<0.001) in the midbrain of DEC1+/+, DEC1-/- and DEC1-/- treated with LiCl mice by Western blotting(n=4 in each group). The data are analyzed using t-test for the different groups and expressed as mean ± SD. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, DEC1-/- mice vs the age-matched DEC1+/+ mice; #p<0.05, ##p<0.01, DEC1-/- + LiCl mice vs DEC1-/- mice. Scale bar=100 μm.