Fig. 5

Inhibition of caspase 3 is neuroprotective in the Kainic acid lesion model. a, b Schematic representation of the experimental procedure and experimental time line. a Local stereotaxic delivery of the caspase 3 inhibitor z-DEVD-FMK (DEVD) or vehicle control into the CA1 area of the hippocampus. b Adult mice were lesioned with Kainic acid one day post stereotaxic injection with DEVD or vehicle control. c Neuronal injury was assessed by Nissl staining (top panel) and Calbindin immunostaining (middle panel). Microglial activation was assessed by CD68 immunostaining (lower panel). Representative hippocampal images from adjacent section of one animal are shown (scale bar: 200 μm). Local pretreatment with the caspase 3 inhibitor DEVD reduces the neurodegeneration phenotype observed in the Kainic acid lesion model compared to vehicle control. d-f Quantification of Nissl staining (d), Calbindin immunostaining (e) and CD68 immunostaining (f) expressed as percentage area covered by the staining in the CA1 region of the hippocampus. (n = 6–9 mice per group, 4–5 sections per mouse brain). g Representative Western blot of hippocampal lysates of mice pretreated with DEVD or vehicle control prior to Kainic acid lesion or PBS injection. Membranes were probed with anti-C-beclin and anti-Actin antibodies. Individual animals separated by dashed line. h, i Quantification of FL-beclin (h) and C-beclin (i) (Western blot analysis: n = 5 mice per group, lysates from DEVD and vehicle control hemisphere analyzed for each animal). Data expressed as mean + SEM; *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; compared by paired Student’s t-test