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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Cell. 2010 Jul 9;142(1):144–157. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2010.06.010

Figure 4.

Figure 4

Cell Autonomous TGF-β Signaling Mediates Axon Formation

(A) Dissociated hippocampal neurons from E18 rat embryos expressing GFP or GFP + TβR2-KR were fixed and stained for the axonal marker tau-1. Cells were transfected 4-6 hours after plating and fixed 65-72 hours later. Arrow indicates tau-1 positive axons, which are absent from cells expressing TβR2-KR. Scale bar, 20 μm.

(B) Camera lucida traces of neurons expressing GFP (top) or GFP + TβR2-KR (bottom). Arrows indicate axons. Scale bar, 20 μm.

(C) Data represent means ± SEM of the longest neurite in control cells and cells expressing TβR2-KR. n = 12, *p<0.05, Student’s t-test.

(D) Quantification of axon number in cells expressing GFP alone or GFP + TβR2-KR. Data pooled from at least 3 independent experiments. GFP, n = 42; TβR2-KR, n = 53; *p<0.05, Student’s t-test.

(E) Neurons expressing GFP or GFP + TβR2-WT showing multiple tau-1 positive axons emerging from cells expressing TβR2-WT (arrows). Scale bar, 20 μm.

(F) Camera lucida traces of neurons expressing TβR2-WT. Arrows indicate axons. Scale bar, 20 μm.

(G) Quantification of axon number in cells expressing GFP alone or GFP plus TβR2-WT. GFP, n = 41; TβR2-WT, n = 44; *p<0.05, Student’s t-test.