Fig. 5

Spermidine treatment did not affect presence of protein aggregates within the pons and medulla of 18-week-old CMVMJD135 mice. (A) Immunohistochemical staining for ataxin-3 in sections from the pons and medulla of wild type (WT) and CMVMJD135 (MJD) mice revealed that the MJD mice harboured ataxin-3-positive protein aggregates. Scale bars indicate 50 μm. (B) MJD mice exhibited more ataxin-3 aggregates than WT mice within the pons (p < 0.0001) and spermidine treatment had no effect on the number of ataxin-3 aggregates present. (C) MJD mice exhibited more ataxin-3 aggregates within the medulla oblongata than WT mice (p < 0.0001) and spermidine treatment had no beneficial effect on the number of ataxin-3 aggregates present, in fact greater aggregate numbers were found in the spermidine treated MJD mice compared to those treated with water (p = 0.0059). (D) More aggregates were found within the DCN region of MJD mice than WT mice (p = 0.0308), but spermidine treatment did not affect the number of aggregates present. A two-way ANOVA was utilised for statistical analysis followed by Tukey post hoc. The p-values marked on the graphs represent the Tukey test results. Data represents mean ± SEM