2.2. Preparation of PTE mouse model and drug treatment
Male C57BL/6J mice (6-8 weeks of age) weighing 18-22 g were obtained
from the Experimental Animal Center of Central South University. The
mice were housed in a specific pathogen-free environment and provided
with free food and water. All of the animal procedures followed the
National Institutes of Health guidelines and the experimental procedures
were approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of Xiangya Hospital
of Central South University. PTE mouse model was prepared according to
our previous descriptions (Li et al., 2019). In brief, the mice were
anesthetized with intraperitoneal injection of 10% (v/w) chloral
hydrate and carefully placed in a stereotaxic apparatus. 5 μl of a 50 mM
solution of FeCl3 dissolved in phosphate buffer saline
(PBS) was stereotaxically injected into the somatosensory cortex
(coordinates AP-1.3 mm; ML-2.0 mm; V-1.6 mm) within 5 min using an
injector cannula (62004, RWD Life Science) while the control group
received an equal volume of PBS. Thereafter, we allocated the mice into
four different groups as follows: Control group (injection with equal
volume of PBS) (n=6); FeCl3 group (injection with 50 mM
FeCl3) (n=6); FeCl3+Fer-1 group
(injection with 50 mM FeCl3 and 1 pmol Fer-1) (n=6) and
Fer-1 group (injection with 1 pmol Fer-1) (n=6).