Universal Probe Library (Roche) probes were selected using the ProbeFinder v2.41 software (Roche). qRT-PCR was performed on an ABI 7500 Real Time PCR Instrument or on an ABI Prism 7900HT Sequence Detection System (Applied Biosystems). Each sample was analyzed in quadruplicate either in 25 µl of reaction mixture (250 nM probe, 900 nM of each primer, the Fast Start TaqMan Probe Master from Roche and 10 ng of genomic DNA) or in 10 µl of reaction mixture (100 nM probe, 200 nM of each primer, 1× Platinum Quantitative PCR SuperMix-Uracil-DNA-Glycosylase with ROX from Invitrogen and 25 ng of genomic DNA). The results were evaluated using Sequence Detection Software v2.2.1 (Applied Biosystems). Further data analysis was performed using the ΔΔCT method. Reference genes, chosen from COBL, GUSB and SNCA, were included based on the minimal coefficient of variation, and data was then normalized by setting a normal control to a value of 1.
