Fig. 2: Increased axon and dendrite growth in the brains of KHSRP deficient mice.
a Representative images for hippocampi of adult mice for Thy1-GFP crossed with Khsrp+/− and Khsrp−/− show altered mossy fiber outgrowth compared to Khsrp+/+. The low power image at left outlines area for three higher power images to the right. IPB is marked as ‘i’ and SPB as ‘ii’ in the three right panels (DG = dentate gyrus; CA1 and CA3 mark corresponding cornu Ammonis subfields). b–d Panel (b) shows a low magnification of confocal XYZ projection for layer 5 somatosensory cortex of Thy1-GFP × Khsrp−/− mice; left panel shows fluorescent GFP signals and right panel shows Neurolucida tracing for a single neuron; boxed region shows approximate site for images of the secondary branches of apical dendrites shown in panels (c, d). Higher magnification images of apical dendrite branches for Thy1-GFP mice crossed with Khsrp+/− and Khsrp−/− show that loss of KHSRP increases dendritic spine numbers in panels (c) and (d). e–g Mean IPB/SPB length (i/ii) (e) is significantly increased in Khsrp−/− compared to Khsrp+/+ mice and spine density (f) is significantly increased in both Khsrp−/− and Khsrp+/− compared to Khsrp+/+ mice. Density of stubby spines is significantly increased in both Khsrp−/− and Khsrp+/− while the density of mushroom spines is significantly increased in Khsrp−/− compared to Khsrp+/+ mice (g). Error bars represent SEM (N = 5; *p < 0.05 by ANOVA) [Scale bars = a left panel, 500 and right three panels 200 µm; b 50 µm; c 10 µm; and d 2 µm].
