Figure 6

Reduced expression of β₂-adrenergic receptors in RFP-TDP-43^208–414- compared with RFP-TDP-43^wt-expressing astrocytes. (A–C) Representative fluorescence images of astrocytes immunostained with α₁- (A) β₁- (B) and β₂-adrenergic receptor (C) antibodies (green) and labelled with DAPI (blue) in RFP-TDP-43^wt- (upper panels) and RFP-TDP-43^208–414-expressing astrocytes (lower panels; red). Immunostaining was performed 30 h after transfection with RFP-tagged TDP-43 pDNA constructs. Scale bar, 20 µm. Histograms show anti-α₁- (A) anti-β₁- (B) and anti-β₂-adrenergic receptor (AR; C) positive cell cross-sectional area (anti-α₁-/β₁-/β₂-AR S; i.e. number of green fluorescence pixels with fluorescence intensity above the threshold of 10% of maximal fluorescence) per total cell cross-sectional area (cell S; i.e. number of all pixels) in RFP-TDP-43^wt- and RFP-TDP-43^208–414-expressing cells. Note the reduced expression of β₂-adrenergic receptors in RFP-TDP-43^208–414- compared with RFP-TDP-43^wt-expressing astrocytes. Numbers adjacent to the error bars depict the number of cells analysed. Data are presented as means ± SEM and acquired from at least two different animals. Each experiment (i.e. coverslip) was performed in duplicate, multiple cells were recorded per coverslip. ***P ≤ 0.001, Mann-Whitney U test.