BV treatment attenuates ubiquitinated α-synuclein and recovered proteasomal activity in the spinal cord of symptomatic mice. The total homogenate was immunoprecipitated with an anti-α-synuclein antibody and then immunoblotted with an anti-ubiquitin antibody (a). Ubiquitinated α-synuclein of high molecular weight (*) was detected in the spinal cords of saline-treated mice, but not in BV-treated mice. Left upper panel is a long-exposure blot and the lower panel is a short-exposure blot. α-Synuclein and ubiquitin were colocalized in the lumbar spinal motor neurons of symptomatic mice (b). This image is representative of three independent experiments. Proteasomal activity was determined using a fluorescence enzymatic assay (c). BV treatment increased the proteasomal activity 1.5-fold in the spinal cords of symptomatic mice () compared to age-matched controls (). Proteasomal activity was reported in arbitrary fluorescence units (mean ± SEM of three independent experiments). Values that were significantly different from relative controls are indicated with an asterisk when . A.F.U. = arbitrary fluorescence units (mean ± SEM).
