Research Paper Volume 8, Issue 11 pp 2713—2733

Figure 6. SkQ1 increased the number of presynaptic active zones in the hippocampal CA1 region and increased the levels of pre- and postsynaptic proteins in the hippocampus. (A) The low number of presynaptic active zones in the hippocampus of OXYS rats (n=4; p<0.05) and an increase in response to SkQ1 treatment (p<0.05). (B) The elevated number of large presynaptic active zones (judging by the length of an active zone in the micrographs) in the hippocampus of OXYS rats (p<0.05) and an increase in the number of medium presynaptic active zones in response to SkQ1 treatment (p<0.05). (C) The electron micrographs show an active zone (AZ) in the CA1 region of the hippocampus in a Wistar rat and untreated and SkQ1-treated OXYS rats. (D, E) Synapsin I and PSD-95 levels were low in the hippocampus of untreated OXYS rats (p<0.05) and increased in response to SkQ1 treatment (p<0.05) according to western blot analyses (n=6-8). (F) Immunohistochemical staining (n=4) of synapsin I (red) and PSD-95 (green). The DAPI (blue) staining shows cell nuclei. The scale bar is 1 µm in (C) and 5 µm in (F). Mito: mitochondria, Syn I: synapsin I, a.u.: arbitrary units. The data are shown as mean ± SEM. Statistical significance (p<0.05) is denoted by an asterisk.