Rescue of DARPP-32 immunoreactivity and reduced accumulation of ataxin-3 inclusions upon shAtaxMUT expression.

<p>A–I) Laser confocal microscopy showing the expression of recombinant lentiviral vectors expressing MUT ATX3 and shGFP (n = 4), shAtaxWT (n = 8) or shMUT (n = 7) and its effects on DARPP-32 expression in the rat striatum 2 months post-injection. Slight DARPP-32 downregulation is observed in striatum infected with MUT ATX3 and the selective shAtaxMUT (H and the merged image I), whereas a significant loss of DARPP-32-immunoreactive neurons is observed in rat striatum co-infected with MUT ATX3 and shAtaxWT (E and the merged image F) or MUT ATX3 and the control shGFP (B and the merged image C). The figure shows representative images of immunohistochemical stainings that were reproducible among the different groups.