Fig. 2.

mnKO mice exhibit impaired motor function recovery post sciatic nerve injury. (A) Experimental scheme to assess neuromuscular recovery postsciatic nerve injury of 4-month-old mice. (B to D) Data from behavioral tests of f/f (n = 13) and mnKO (n = 11) mice at PID28: representative tracks of movement patterns and measured moved distance and velocity (B), fixed and accelerated rotarod test (C), and gait analysis (D). (E) Immunostaining for NF, red) and MBP, green) in f/f and mnKO sciatic nerves at 6 weeks of recovery. (F) Quantification of the axonal diameter. (G) Immunostaining for axon branch (NF, green), presynaptic (synaptophysin [SV], green) and postsynaptic (bungarotoxin [BTX], red) NMJ compartment in FDB and EDL muscles. (H) Quantification of the axon thickness and endplate area. Data are expressed as means ± SD. (I) The relative muscle mass to body weight of 4-month-old f/f (n = 4) and mnKO (n = 5) mice after injury. Data are expressed as means ± SD. (J and K) The assessment of myofiber CSA in the laminin-stained TA muscles. Quantification of myofiber CSA. Data are expressed as means ± SD. (L) qRT-PCR analysis for denervation and atrophy markers in denervated f/f (n = 3) and mnKO (n = 3) muscles. Values are means ± SEM. To determine statistical significance, an unpaired 2-tailed Student t test was used. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001.