Figure 1: CSPG digestion increases spine motility. | Nature Communications

Figure 1: CSPG digestion increases spine motility.

From: Extracellular matrix inhibits structural and functional plasticity of dendritic spines in the adult visual cortex

Figure 1

(a) Cortical coronal section showing GFP fluorescence and WFA fluorescence staining the CSPGs (red). The effect of ChABC treatment is clearly visible in the area between the arrows, where WFA fluorescence is strongly reduced. T indicates the temporal cortex, and the dorsal cortex is at the top of the image. Scale bar, 0.5 mm. The two lower panels show the staining for CSPGs after the injection with penicillinase (left) and ChABC (right). The digestion with ChABC strongly reduces the staining of perineuronal nets and of the CSPG staining diffused in the entire cortex. Scale bar, 200 μm. The right panel shows a detail of perineuronal nets and of the diffused staining after treatment with penicillinase. Scale bar, 15 μm. (b) Cumulative distribution of spine length measured at all temporal points in ChABC-treated and control animals. In parenthesis are indicated the number of spines and the total number of observed temporal points. (c) In vivo time-lapse imaging in a cortex treated with ChABC. Arrows indicates mobile spines. Scale bar, 4 μm. (d) Sample traces showing spine length as a function of time from control and ChABC-treated cortices. (e) Cumulative distribution of spine motility is significantly different between the two groups.

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