Figure 7.

Alterations in actin dynamics are mediated by cofilin in moca^−/− mice. A, A representative spinal cord subcellular fractionation using a 0–30% continuous iodixanol gradient (n = 3). Each fraction is presented as the percentage of total protein (sum of OD in scanned blot) for each protein. B, Western blotting patterns of cofilin, phosphorylated cofilin, LIMK1, phosphorylated LIMK, PAK1/2/3, and phosphorylated PAK from the cerebral cortex and spinal cord of control (+/+) and moca^−/− (−/−) mice. GAPDH was used as a loading control. The percentage change in the expression level for each protein is normalized to GAPDH and shown as the mean ± SD. Statistical analysis was done by a Student's t test (n = 6, **p < 0.01). CTX, cerebral cortex; SC, spinal cord. C1–C6, Immunostaining of cultured cortical neurons with the antibodies recognizing cofilin (green) and NF-200 (red), and merged (overlap yellow). The formation of rod-like structures (arrows) stained by the cofilin antibody is present in cultured moca^−/− (−/−) neurons (C4, C6). The rod-like structures are largely confined to the thinner neurites, as previously shown (Minamide et al., 2000). Scale bar, 15 μm.