Figure 3
Determination of neuronal dendritic growth in the Mecp2 null mice upon L-Dopa+Ddci (dopa-decarboxylase inhibitor) treatment. (a) Dopamine concentration normalized with the respective total protein amount in hippocampus of wild-type (WT) and Mecp2 null mice. (b) Spine density in hippocampus of WT and Mecp2 null mice with or without treatment acquired with a Zeiss wide-field microscope, × 63 magnification, 1.4 numerical aperture. (Below) Bars showing the spine density (mean and SEM) in the hippocampus region of Mecp2-deficient mice vs WT, and treated with L-Dopa+Ddci or L-Dopa alone, at 4 weeks post treatment (8 weeks of age), focusing on the total number of spines (c) and mushroom spines (d). Dendritic segments of 20 μm were analyzed for each group, and images were obtained with a Zeiss microscope, × 63 magnification, and processed with NeuronStudio software. The bars illustrate the average total count of spines in dendritic segments in the four experimental groups (Sholl analysis). (e) L-Dopa+Ddci treatment causes an increase in dopamine 2 receptor (D2R) levels. All transcript levels were determined using qRT-PCR (Applied Biosystem). The values (mean and SEM) are the ratio with respect to WT, which is assigned a value of 1 (line) *p<0.05, **p<0.01. For the described pairwise comparisons, a Tukey HSD post hoc test was performed after the one-way analysis of variance. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, and ***p<0.001.
