Fig. 3

AIE increases in cleaved Casp3 in DCX-expressing immature neurons are prevented by galantamine. (A) Cleaved Casp3 is a marker of activated cell death machinery, and DCX is a marker of immature neurons. We analyzed co-labeling of cleaved Casp3 in DCX cells as an indicator of cell death in these immature neurons. AIE significantly increased cleaved Casp3+IR in vehicle-exposed rats. Excitingly, galantamine reversed this effect, indicating that galantamine pretreatment prevents AIE induction of cell death cascades in immature neurons. (B) Photomicrographs include cleaved Casp3+IR (red) with DCX (green) and DAPI (blue). Closed white arrows indicate cleaved Casp3 in DCX cells. Open arrows outlined in white indicate DCX cells without cleaved Casp3. Scale bars indicate 100 μM. For each identified comparison, *p < 0.05