Figure 7From: Angiotensin type 1 receptor antagonist losartan, reduces MPTP-induced degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigraLosartan protects DA neurons of the SNpc from MPTP toxicity. (a) TH immunoreactive neurons and Nissl stained cells in the SNpc from mice treated with saline, MPTP, MPTP + losartan or losartan alone. Scale bars equal to 100 μm. Saline panel shows a representative contour selection of the A9 region. The Cell Selection panel shows an example of counted TH+ neurons (indicated with arrows) or Nissl-stained cells with large nuclei (indicated with arrows) and excluded Nissl-stained cells with small nuclei (indicated with arrowheads). (b) Quantification of the number of TH+ neurons and Nissl stained cells in the SNpc, revealed a significant decrease in the number TH+ neurons in MPTP treated mice when compared to saline control treated animals. MPTP-injected mice treated daily with losartan significantly decreased the MPTP-induced loss of TH+ neurons in the SNpc. Significance is indicated by (#) when compared to MPTP-alone injected mice and (*) when compared to saline-alone injected mice (p ≤ 0.05, One-way ANOVA followed by Newman-Keuls post-hoc test). Data are represented as mean ± SEM, n = 4–5 for TH immunostain and n = 3 for Nissl stain.Back to article page