Figure 5

Treatment with flunarizine elicits protective effects on spinal cord motor neurons of SMA mice. (A) Co-labeling of the glutamatergic synapse marker vGlut1 (green, arrowheads) and the motor neuron marker ChaT (red) to assess the central excitatory glutamatergic synapses on spinal cord motor neurons of controls and SMA mice in response to flunarizine. Scale bar, 10 μm. (B) Analysis of vGlut1 appositions per motor neuron of flunarizine (Flz)- and vehicle (V)-treated control mice. Each motor neuron is represented with a dot and the number of vGlut1 boutons is plotted as a function of the somata size. There is no difference between the two control groups. (C) Distribution of the spinal cord motor neurons of flunarizine- (bleue dots) and vehicle-treated SMA mice (red dots) compared to all controls from panel B (black dots). The treatment increases both the frequency of motor neurons with 24 to 30 vGlut1 boutons and the number of larger motor neurons (≥1000 μm) in SMA mice.