Fig. 8: Neuroligin mediates the protective effect of lutein on cholinergic synapses.
a Frequency of body bends in liquid media (“thrashing”) were quantified manually for one minute. n ≥ 45 over three biologically independent experiments. p < 0.0001. b Aldicarb-induced paralysis curves on plates containing 0.5 mM aldicarb. Log-rank test: wild-type vs wild-type + lutein p = 4.40E-07. n ≥ 89 over three biologically independent experiments. c Percentage of animals paralyzed after 180 min on plates containing 50 µM Levamisole. Box plots indicate median (middle line), 25th, 75th percentile (box) and 5th and 95th percentile (whiskers) as well as outliers (single points). n = 120 over four biologically independent experiments. wild-type vs nlg-1 ko p = 0.0012, wild-type vs nlg-1 ko + lutein p = 0.0001. d Bars indicate the percentage of animals showing full-body paralysis after one hour of exposure to 2.5 mg/ml PTZ. n = 60 over four biologically independent experiments. wild-type vs wild-type + lutein p = 0.0029. e Bars indicate the percentage of different developmental stages in wild-type and nlg-1 mutants after 6 days from egg lay. Asterisks denote differences between the percentages of animals that reached the gravid adult (GA) stage. n ≥ 120 over four biologically independent experiments, two-way ANOVA, followed by Tukey’s multiple-comparisons test. wild-type vs wild-type + lutein p = 0.0049. f Representative pictures of pnlg-1::NLG-1::GFP in ventral nerve cord of adult and L3 larvae in the parental generation. Scale bar 10 µm. Three biologically independent experiments with similar results. g Aldicarb sensitivity assay in the nlg-1(ok259) rescued by a pnlg-1::NLG-1 transgene, aldicarb-induced paralysis curves, plates containing 1 mM aldicarb. Log-rank test: wild-type vs wild-type + lutein p = 0.004, nlg-1 rescue vs nlg-1 rescue + lutein p = 0.0064. n ≥ 75 over three biologically independent experiments. The assay was carried out using adult worms of the parental generation. Data for all panels are provided as a Source Data file.
