Research Paper Volume 11, Issue 24 pp 12733—12753

Figure 2. DEC1 deficient mice show the loss of DA neurons in the SNpc. (A) Immunohistochemical staining of TH⁺ DA neurons in the SNpc of DEC1^+/+ and DEC1^-/- mice at the age of 3, 6, 12 months (n=6 in each group). (B) Stereological counts of TH⁺ cells in the SNpc of DEC1^+/+ and DEC1^-/- mice at the age of 3, 6 and 12 months (Two-way AONVA, gene: F_(1,28)=37.088, p<0.001; age: F_(2,28)=34.758, p<0.001; interaction: F_(2,28)=3.789, p= 0.035). (C) Nissl staining in the SNpc in DEC1^+/+ and DEC1^-/- mice at different ages of 3, 6 and 12 months (n=6 in each group). (D) Quantification of Nissl staining in the SNpc of DEC1^+/+ and DEC1^-/- mice at 3, 6 and 12 months(n=6 in each group) (Two-way AONVA, gene: F_(1,22)=14.78, p=0.01; age: F_(2,22)=4.515, p=0.023; interaction: F_(2,22)=3.132, p=0.064). Neurons were imaged and counted with an Olympus DP70 microscope (×100 or ×200). The data are analyzed using t-test for the same age in two genotypes of mice and expressed as mean ± SD. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 vs the age-matched DEC1^+/+ mice. ## p<0.01, ns p>0.05, comparisons are shown in the figure. Scale bar=100 μm.