Extended Data Fig. 3: Li deficiency results in loss of dendritic spines, axons and oligodendrocytes.
From: Lithium deficiency and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease
a, Golgi staining and quantification (right) of dendritic spine density in hippocampus CA1 (middle) and CA3 (right) subdomains of WT mice fed Li-deficient (DEF) or CTRL diets from 12–24 months of age (n = 8 mice per group). b, Golgi staining and quantification of spine density (right) in the hippocampus CA1 of 12-month-old 3xTg mice after 5 weeks of CTRL or DEF diet (n = 8 mice/group) for 5 weeks. c, Immunolabeling and quantification (right) of mature oligodendrocytes (marker Aspartoacylase) and axons (marker SMI-312) in the corpus callosum of WT mice treated from 12–24 months of age (CTRL n = 8; DEF n = 6). d, Immunolabeling of OPCs (marker PDGFRα) in the hippocampus of 3xTg mice treated with CTRL and DEF diets from 6–15 months of age and quantification of OPC density (n = 7 per group). e, Lithium deficiency impairs myelin integrity. Transmission electron microscopy (left panel) showing structural abnormalities in the myelin of the corpus callosum of Li-deficient 3xTg mice (treatment from 6–12 months). Violin plots show g-ratios (middle) and myelin sheath thickness (right) for individual axons (CTRL n = 1,376; DEF n = 1,396; pooled from n = 8 mice per group). a-d, Box plots show individual values, median (line), box limits (25th-75th percentiles), and whiskers (min-max). c,d, The data was normalized to the mean of CTRL groups. a-e, P-values by unpaired two-tailed t-tests. Scale bars, 5 μm (a,b) or 25 μm (c, d).
