Figure 1

Comparison of dendritic arborization in the SNc dopamine neurons and hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons.

(a,b) Z-projection of a nigral dopamine neuron and a CA1 pyramidal neuron, labeled with cascade blue. Left, fluorescence image; Right, reconstructed projection image; Bottom, 3D-reconstructed image. (c) Average numbers of branch points in SNc dopamine neurons and CA1 pyramidal neurons (SNc, from 80 dendrites in 34 cells; CA1, from 23 dendrites in 5 cells). (d) Left, distribution of branch points in the proximal and distal dendrites in SNc dopamine neurons (proximal, <80 μm from the soma, n = 80; distal, >80 μm from the soma, n = 35). Right, cumulative frequency plot of branch points along the dendrite of SNc dopamine neurons (n = 115). The cumulative frequency is normalized by branch point number from 0 (soma) to 10 μm. (e) Comparison of soma size between SNc dopamine neurons and CA1 pyramidal neurons. (SNc, n = 34; CA1, n = 5). (f,g) Comparison of diameters and numbers of primary dendrite between SNc dopamine neurons and CA1 pyramidal neurons. Primary dend. no. indicates primary dendrite number. (SNc, primary dendrite diameter, n = 140; primary dendrite number, n = 34; CA1, primary dendrite diameter, n = 18; primary dendrite number, n = 5). *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001, Unpaired t-tests. *, ** and *** indicate statistical significance. Error bars represent SEM.