Figure 4

Loss of alpha motor neurons in the spinal cord of tgMT mice. (a) Nissl staining of motor neurons in lumbar spinal cord cross-sections of 7-month-old tgWT, tgMT and non-transgenic control mice. Enlarged images of the encircled area revealed reduced number of larger alpha motor neurons in the ventral horn of the spinal cord of tgMT mice compared with tgWT or control mice. Scale bars=200 μm. (b) Ventral horn of spinal cord sections of tgWT and tgMT mice were stained with anti-Myc (labeling all the motor neurons) and anti-NeuN (labeling alpha motor neurons) antibodies. Scale bars=50 μm. (c) Quantitation of numbers of all the motor neurons or alpha motor neurons in the ventral horn of lumbar spinal cord sections of tgWT, tgMT and control mice. There was no difference in the number of all the motor neurons, but the number of NeuN-positive alpha motor neurons was significantly reduced in tgMT mice compared with that of tgWT or control mice. ***P<0.001