Liver growth factor stimulated TH and DAT protein expression in striatum and protected DA neurons in the substantia nigra of 6-OHDA-lesioned rats.

<p>Panel A shows TH-positive innervation in the striatum of lesioned rats treated with vehicle (A, white bars) or with LGF (A, black bars). Data in B represent the number of TH-positive neurons in the naïve (B, dotted bar) and lesioned substantia nigra (SN) of rats treated with vehicle (B, white bar) or LGF (B, black bar). Panels C and D show TH and DAT protein expression in the naïve (control, dotted bars) and lesioned striatum of rats receiving vehicle (white bars) or LGF (black bars). Results are represented as the mean ± SEM of n individual animals. T-tests were performed in A (n = 4–9. +p≤0.05, ++p≤0.01, and +++p≤0.001 vs vehicle). One way ANOVA were performed in B (p<0.0001; F_{2, 24} = 59.26, n = 8–11), C (p<0.0001; F_{2, 41} = 126.9, n = 11–17) and D (p = 0.0216; F_{2, 25} = 4.490, n = 5–12) followed by Newman-Keuls multiple comparison test (*p≤0.05 and ***p≤0.001 vs control. +p≤0.05 vs vehicle). C, D, lane 1: control striatum; C, D, lane 2: lesioned striatum of vehicle-treated rats; C, D, lane 3: lesioned striatum of LGF rats.