Figure 7: Deficits of experience-dependent spine remodelling in ASD mouse models.
From: Enhanced synapse remodelling as a common phenotype in mouse models of autism
(a) In vivo imaging of gephyrin-GFP (green) and dendrites filled with DsRed2 (grey). Chess-board trimming of whiskers promoted formation of new spines (arrowheads) in wild-type mice. (b) Gain and loss of gephyrin-GFP-(+) and (−) spines per unit length of dendrites in the barrel cortex of wild-type and patDp/+ mice with or without chess-board trimming of whiskers. (c) Gain and loss of gephyrin-GFP-(+) and (−) spines per unit length of dendrites in the barrel cortex of wild-type and NLG R451C mice with or without chess-board trimming of whiskers. (d) Immunostaining of c-fos in the barrel cortex of wild-type and patDp/+ mice after whisker stimulation. (e) The density of c-fos immunoreactive cells in layer 4 (left) and layer 2/3 (right) of wild-type and patDp/+ mice (WT, n=4 animals; patDp/+, n=4 animals). (f) The density of c-fos immunoreactive cells in layer 4 (left) and layer 2/3 (right) of wild-type and NLG R451C mice (WT, n=4 animals; NLG R451C, n=6 animals). Data are presented as mean±s.e.m. *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.005, Student’s t-test. Scale bars, 3 μm for a; 100 μm for c. Refer to the Supplementary Table 4 for the number of animals in each group.
