Curcumin Effectively Rescued Parkinson’s Disease-Like Phenotypes in a Novel Drosophila melanogaster Model with dUCH Knockdown

Figure 5

Curcumin reduces the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in dUCH knockdown larvae. (a–c) Immunohistochemical images of larval brain lobes from control (TH > CS), dUCH knockdown (TH > dUCH.IR), and dUCH knockdown larvae treated with curcumin (TH > dUCH.IR + curcumin) using an anti-TH antibody with a lower (A–C) and higher magnification (A1–C1). DL1 clusters are enclosed with white boxes, and scale bars indicate 100 μm (A–C) and 20 μm (A1–C1). (d) Quantification of dopaminergic neurons in the DL1 cluster. The knockdown of dUCH caused a decrease in the number of dopaminergic neurons in the DL1 cluster, while dUCH knockdown larvae treated with curcumin did not show the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons (Tukey’s test, and , ). Error bars represent the standard deviation. TH > CS (w/Y; +; TH-GAL4/+) and TH > dUCH.IR (w/Y; +; TH-GAL4/UAS-dUCH.IR).

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