Fig. 5

Effect of SOD1 and ApoSOD1 on phospho-Akt expression and localization in rat primary motor neurons. A Immunolocalization of phospho-Akt (p-Akt) in MAP2-positive cells within a motor-neuron enriched culture under control conditions (a–c), exposed to SOD1 (400 ng/ml/10 min) (d–f) or ApoSOD1 (400 ng/ml/10 min) (g–i). Motor-neuron enriched culture were harvested before the treatment with SOD1 or ApoSOD1. White arrows indicate MAP2-positive neurons with a nuclear localization of p-Akt. Bar graph at the bottom represents the % of p-Akt-positive nuclei in each group. *p < 0.05 versus control. B Representative Western blotting and quantification of the effect of SOD1, and ApoSOD1 (both at 400 ng/ml/10 min) on p-Akt and Akt expression in the absence or presence of siNCX1 (10 nmol/L for 48 h). Data are expressed as mean ± SE of three different experimental sessions. *p < 0.05 versus siControl; **p < 0.05 versus siControl, SOD1 and ApoSOD1. C Bar graph depicting the effect of L-BMAA (300 μM/48 h) on cell survival in rat primary motor neurons pretreated with SOD1, or ApoSOD1 (both at 400 ng/ml/10 min) in the presence or absence of siNCX1 or after exposure to the NCX1 activator CN-PYB2 (10 nM). Data are expressed as mean ± S.E. of three different experimental sessions. *p < 0.05 versus control; **p < 0.05 versus L-BMAA alone; ***p < 0.05 versus L-BMAA + SOD1 or L-BMAA + ApoSOD1