Fig. 6
Autophagy of dopaminergic axon ends in nearby astrocytes. a Three successive slices (0.3 µm thick) of a spheroid generated from a thickened axon and penetrated by thin (red arrows) and very thin (brown arrows) astrocytic processes (TH in green, GFAP in cyan). b–e An astrocyte (cyan arrow-head with GFAP in cyan and DAPI in blue) which presented immunoreactivity for TH (green arrow in c) and DAT (yellow arrows in d) near a degenerating DAergic axon of the MFB (white arrow-head in c). f–h An astrocyte (cyan in f) which presented immunoreactivity for TH (green in g) and DAT (yellow in h), near a degenerating DAergic spheroid of the MFB (shown at the top-right of g). i, j Another example of an astrocyte (cyan in i) near an MFB spheroid (j left side), which accumulated TH immunoreactivity (j). k The mean ± standard error of the density of GFAP, TH and DAT immunoreactivity (normalized as a percentage of the mean value of the extracellular medium) for MFB spheroids (n = 200; *P < 0.001). l An example of a spheroid (TH in green) that accumulated DAergic mitochondria, a portion of which was transferred to a nearby astrocyte (cyan). l1, l2 Consecutive 0.4-µm thick slices which accumulated DAergic mitochondria (red). The astrocyte of this example presented some DAergic mitochondria near its nucleus (DAPI in blue) and some of its GFAP filaments. l3 A 3D magnification of the zoomed area in l2. l4 A magnification (0.3 µm thick) of the zoomed area in l3, which presents DAergic mitochondria and GFAP astrocytic filaments located in adjacent areas