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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2008 Sep 17.
Published in final edited form as: Dev Neurobiol. 2008 Sep 15;68(11):1348–1361. doi: 10.1002/dneu.20668

Figure 7.

Figure 7

Overexpression of Mfn1 fusion protein induces longer mitochondria throughout DRG axons. Isolated DRGs were transfected with EGFP-Mfn1 expression plasmids and observed 48 h later. Phase contrast (A,D,G) and epifluorescence (B,C,E,F,H,I) images are shown. MitoTracker staining reveals the mitochondrial morphology (B,E,H). Neurons expressing EGFP-Mfn1 (D–F, G–I) had significantly longer mitochondria in all regions of axons than did untransfected cells (A– C). Longer mitochondria are shown in the proximal (E) and distal (H) regions of the axons. Scale bar, 10 μm. Overexpression of Mfn1 protein by transient transfection results in significantly longer mitochondria in axons (J). In transfected cells, the length of the mitochondria was increased very significantly (p < 0.001; two-tail t test); a small percentage (4.6%) of axonal mitochondria exceeded 16 lm in length. Pooled data are shown from two experiments (transfected: n = 124 mitochondria/9 axons, control: n = 115 mitochondria/3 axons).