Fig. 6: Exploring ENS morphology remodeling in a genetic model of Parkinson’s disease.

a 2D circumferential reslices of autofluorescence channel in mouse colon from MCI-Park mice and wild type controls. Scale bars in close up boxes are 200 μm. Yellow circles and rectangles indicate the epithelium layer and the length of crypts respectively. The size is the same in all images to facilitate visual comparison. b Quantitative measurements of crypt length (b-i), crypt count (b-ii) and epithelium thickness (b-iii) obtained from images in (a). c 3D renderings of HuCD-labeled neurons in the same mice as in (a). d Quantification of segmented HuCD-labeled neurons from whole imaged volume of PD and WT samples. Metrics are count of individual cells per mm³ (d-i), count of neuron clusters per mm³ (d-ii) and volume of neuron clusters (d-iii). e Longitudinal view of two-channel images of autofluorescence and HuCD flattened to the serosa. Arrows point to aberrant HuCD signal in the mucosa, that may be an artifact that was observed in all tested MCI-Park animals. f Quantification of classified segmentation of neurons comparing the volume per mm³ of ganglia (left) and small clusters (right). g Quantification of classified segmentation of neurons comparing the count per mm³ of ganglia (left) and small clusters (right). h High-resolution single optical slice of PD1 sample with two orthogonal views of the mucosa imaged with COLM 4X magnification. i Representative close-up of high-resolution 3D rendering of Tuj1+ neuronal fibers from PD1 animal. j Quantitative analysis of volume occupied by Tuj1 signal in duodenum, jejunum and distal colon comparing PD animals and wild-type controls. Quantitative data used for plotting can be found in tables within Supplementary Data 1. Statistics: Error bars are minimum to maximum. Unpaired t-test for (b), (d), (f) and (g). One-way ANOVA with Tukey multiple comparisons correction for (j). n = 4 MCI-Park and n = 4 wild-type controls for all graphs.