Fig. 4: NEK4 overexpression disrupted circadian fluctuations in dendritic spine morphogenesis in the dorsal hippocampus CA1 area of mice.

A Sparsely labeled neurons in the dorsal hippocampus CA1 region are shown in the left panel. The injection site of NEK4 overexpression AAV was identified by red fluorescence, and gray fluorescence indicates neurons in the CA1 region labeled with sparsely labeled AAV. Scale bars represent 100 μm. The right panel shows the second or third branch in the apical dendrites of sparsely labeled neurons in the dorsal hippocampus CA1 region, and scale bars represent 5 μm. B The density of various types of dendritic spines in the apical dendrites of neurons from NEK4 OE mice and the control mice during day and night were calculated and compared. Dendritic spines during the day compared with the night in control group (thin: P = 0.0675, df = 31, t = 1.895; mushroom: P < 0.0001, df = 31, t = 5.009; two-sided student’s t test). Dendritic spines during the day compared with the night in NEK4 OE group (mushroom: P < 0.0001, df = 27, t = 6.251; two-sided student’s t test). Dendritic spines of the control group compared with NEK4 OE group (Day: thin: P < 0.0001, df = 99, t = 5.663; night: thin: P = 0.998, df = 75, t = 0.172. Day: mushroom: P = 0.0018, df = 99, t = 3.541; night: mushroom: P = 0.0008, df = 75, t = 3.815; 2-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s multiple comparisons test). N = 19 neurons were analyzed in the daytime control group, n = 14 neurons were analyzed in the night control group, n = 16 neurons were analyzed in the daytime NEK4 OE group, n = 13 neurons were analyzed in the night NEK4 OE group. C The density of total dendritic spines from these mice were analyzed, the two-sided student’s t test was used to perform the significance test. All data were shown as mean ± SD, and P < 0.05 after corrections was defined as significant. *P ≤ 0.05, **P ≤ 0.01, ***P ≤ 0.001, ****P < 0.0001. Shadows represent data at night. Source data are provided as a Source data file.