Table 2 Morphometric parameters of NMJs in untreated, IgG- and CCL2 neutralising antibody-treated GC muscles

Morphometric parameters		ALS untreated	ALS IgG-treated	ALS CCL2 neutr.
Presynaptic parameters	Axon diameter (µm)	1.05 ± 0.09	1.39 ± 0.08 (p = 0.0002)	1.37 ± 0.14 (p = 0.0003)
	Nerve terminal area (µm²)	93.07 ± 13.15	130.10 ± 16.32 (p = 0.0010)	131.99 ± 11.76 (p = 0.0007)
	Nerve terminal perimeter (µm)	169.25 ± 22.94	235.22 ± 24.08 (p = 0.0004)	225.51 ± 15.65 (p = 0.0014)
	Nerve terminal complexity (a.u.)	4.63 ± 0.17	5.11 ± 0.30 (p = 0.0022)	4.95 ± 0.07 (p = 0.0238)
Postsynaptic parameters	AChR area (µm²)	351.31 ± 43.06	375.75 ± 31.99	349.90 ± 26.27
	AChR perimeter (µm)	128.54 ± 14.80	137.80 ± 25.70	125.48 ± 8.82
	Endplate area (µm²)	415.26 ± 47.01	440.30 ± 38.71	415.30 ± 31.45
	Endplate perimeter (µm)	85.28 ± 5.37	87.42 ± 4.86	84.37 ± 3.42
	Endplate diameter (µm)	33.02 ± 2.82	32.71 ± 1.78	32.17 ± 2.98
	Compactness (a.u.)	84.51 ± 1.37	85.34 ± 1.78	84.37 ± 1.32
	Fragmentation (a.u.)	0.12 ± 0.06	0.12 ± 0.10	0.11 ± 0.05
Others	Area of synaptic contact (µm²)	88.45 ± 12.45	125.43 ± 15.33 (p = 0.0005)	127.77 ± 9.34 (p = 0.0003)
Others	Overlap (%)	25.45 ± 3.38	34.54 ± 4.27 (p = 0.0014)	37.03 ± 2.92 (p = 0.0002)

Values represent mean ± sem. Statistically significant differences are highlighted in bold, with p values. In each case, treated groups were compared to the untreated contralateral values. Statistical analysis was performed with n = 7 (untreated) and n = 4 (IgG, CCL2) mice/group. 30-40 NMJs were analysed per muscle. Based on normality tests, parametric one-way ANOVA with Fisher’s LSD post-hoc was used out for axon diameter, nerve terminal area, nerve terminal perimeter, nerve terminal complexity, AChR area, endplate area, endplate perimeter, endplate diameter, fragmentation, area of synaptic contact and overlap variables and Kruskal-Wallis test with uncorrected Dunn’s post-hoc was used for AChR perimeter [Shapiro-Wilk normality test, ALS untreated group: p = 0.0244, ALS IgG group: p = 0.8536, ALS CCL2 group p = 0.5031] and compactness [Shapiro-Wilk normality test, ALS untreated group: p = 0.9778, ALS IgG group: p = 0.4864, ALS CCL2 group p = 0.0381]. a.u = arbitrary unit, neutr = neutralisation.

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