Fig. 1

miR-218-5p overexpression alleviates the loss of dopaminergic neurons and motor deficits in MPTP-induced mice. A miR-218-5p expression in the SN of Control and MPTP mice 14 days post MPTP administration is shown by qPCR analysis. N = 5 per group. B A schematic diagram of constructing a miR-218-5p-overexpressing-MPTP mice model. C Effective miR-218-5p overexpression in the SN of mice 17 days post miR-218-5p agomir injection was verified by qPCR analysis. miR-218, mice injected with miR-218-5p agomir. NC, mice injected with NC agomir. N = 8–9 per group. D, E Representative confocal images staining of TH in the SN (D) and quantification of TH⁺ cells (E) of NC Control, NC MPTP, miR-218 Control and miR-218 MPTP mice. Scale bar, 250 μm. N = 3–4 per group. F, G TH expression in the SN by western blot (F) and quantitative analysis (G) of NC Control, NC MPTP, miR-218 Control and miR-218 MPTP mice. N = 3 per group. H Quantification of latency to fall in the accelerating Rotarod test of NC Control, NC MPTP, miR-218 Control and miR-218 MPTP mice 13 days post MPTP administration. N = 6–8 per group. Data are shown as the mean ± SEM. Significance in A, C was tested by two-tailed unpaired Student’s t-test. Significance in E–H was tested by two-way ANOVA. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001