Fig. 1

BC1 KO neurons have increased spine density and decreased dendritic complexity. a Representative images of WT and BC1 KO cultured primary neurons transfected with EGFP. Scale bar, 100 µm. b Sholl analysis and quantification of the number of intersections as a function of distance from the soma (***P < 0.001, two-way ANOVA, mean ± s.e.m., n = 37 WT and 36 KO neurons). c Dendritic length in WT and BC1 KO neurons (*P < 0.05, two-tailed t-test, mean ± s.e.m., n = 37 WT and 36 KO neurons). d left Representative images of dendritic segments of neurons transfected with EGFP. Scale bar, 2 µm. right Quantification of spine density in EGFP-transfected cortical neurons (***P < 0.001, two-tailed t-test, mean ± s.e.m., n = 76 and 68 dendritic segments from WT and KO neurons, respectively). e Scheme of the cortical layers and dendrites analyzed in the somatosensory cortex relative to f–h. f–h left In each group, representative images of dendritic segments of neurons from layers 2/3, 4 or 5 used to analyze spine density. right Median values ± median absolute deviation (m.a.d.) of spine density distributions (***P < 0.001, Mann–Whitney U-test; n = 136/187, 201/218 and 137/180 dendritic segments from layers 2/3, 4 and 5, respectively, in WT/KO mice). Scale bar, 5 µm