FIG. 1.

BMP7 affects microtubule stability in dendrites of primary cortical neurons. (A) Primary cortical neurons were incubated with nocodazole (5 μM) in the presence or absence of BMP7 for 1 h. The microtubules were visualized by immunofluorescence microscopy using antibodies to acetylated (Ace MT) and tyrosinated (Tyr MT) microtubules. As seen in the inset images, the length of stable microtubules in dendrites (a and b) was expressed as a percentage of total MT length (a′ and b′). Scale bar, 20 μm. (B) The percentage of cells in each category based on stable MT content (40%-up, 20 to 40% or 0 to 20%) is plotted as a percentage of total. Shown are the means ± the standard errors of the mean (SEM) of three independent experiments with at least 20 cells analyzed per condition (P < 0.05 [Student t test for the 40% and up category]).