MPTP treatment induces a similar lesion in striatum-substantia nigra of HO-1^−/− mice and their wild type littermates.

<p>Animals received one daily i.p. injection of saline or MPTP (30 mg/kg) for five consecutive days. Pictures show representative coronal sections, 40-µm thick, from VMB and STR stained with anti-TH antibody and counterstained with Nissl. <i>A</i>, Dopaminergic denervation in STR. <i>B</i>, Loss of dopaminergic neurons in VMB. Rectangles indicate SN. <i>C</i>, Stereological quantification of TH-immunoreactive neurons and Nissl positive neurons in SN. <i>D</i>, immunoblot of STR protein lysates. <i>Upper panel</i>, anti-TH antibody. <i>Lower panel</i>, anti-β-actin antibody showing similar protein load per lane. <i>E</i>, densitometric quantifications (arbitrary densitometry units) from representative immunoblots of D after normalization by β-actin densitometry units obtained from the same immunoblot.Results are representative of 5–10 animals per group. Values represent mean ± SD. Two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni's test was applied to determine the significance of biochemical differences among groups.