Fig. 3.

Expression of VEGF in brainstem motor neurons. Confocal microscopy images showing the expression of VEGF (green) in the soma of the oculomotor (OCM), facial and hypoglossal (HYPO) motor neurons of WT (a-c, g-i and m-o) and SOD (d-f, j-l and p-r) mice at different survival times (8 weeks [a, d, g, j, m, p], 12 weeks [b, e, h, k, n, q] and 16 weeks [c, f, i, l, o, r]). ChAT signal (red in the inserts) was used to identify motor neurons. ChAT-positive red motor neurons showed in the inserts correspond to VEGF-labelled green motor neurons boxed with dashed lines. Ocular motor neurons (a–f) showed an intense expression of VEGF in their somata at 8, 12 and 16 weeks in the WT (a, b and c) and SOD mice (d, e and f). Note the high VEGF expression observed at 12 weeks in the oculomotor nuclei of SOD mice (e). The facial (g–l) and hypoglossal (m–r) nuclei always showed lower labelling for VEGF than the oculomotor nucleus, particularly in the SOD mice (j-l; p-r). Calibration bars: 100 ​μm.