Extended Data Fig. 5: Intersectional genetic ablation of PROKR2ADV DRG neurons.
From: A neuroanatomical basis for electroacupuncture to drive the vagal–adrenal axis
a, Schematics of the intersectional genetic strategy for selectively driving the diphtheria toxin receptor (“DTR”) in PROKR2Cre-marked DRG neurons that coexpressed ADVILLIN-Flpo. This was achieved upon removal of two STOP cassettes from the intersectional allele of Tau, a pan-neural gene. A Cre-dependent tdTomato allele driven from the ROSA26 promoter was included (not shown) to label all PROKR2-Cre+ cells with tdTomato, within or outside DRGs. b, Intraperitoneal injection (“i.p.”) of the diphtheria toxin (“DTX”) in Prokr2Adv-DTR mice to create PROKR2ADV-Abl mice, with littermates receiving the same DTX injections as control. c, Ablation of PROKR2Cre-tdTomato+ neurons in lumbar DRGs, as indicated by marked reduction in the percentage of TUBB3+ DRG neurons coexpressing tdTomato. n = 5 mice per group. Two-side student’s unpaired t-test, t8 = 35.61, ***P < 0.001. d, Representative images through tibia periosteum, showing reduction of TUBB3+ and NEFH+ fibers in PROKR2ADV-Abl mice compared with control mice (n = 5 mice per group; two-side student’s unpaired t-test; for TUBB3: t8 = 5.065, ***P = 0.001; for NEFH: t8 = 8.122, ***P < 0.001). e, Representative images showing the preservation of PROKR2Cre-tdTomato+ neurons in the spinal cord as well as various brain regions such as the cortex and the striatum. n = 5 mice per group. Data are shown as mean ± SEM. Scale bars, 100 μm.
