N2a cells were plated on Poly-L-Lysine coated coverslips and transfected with vectors co-expressing GFP and Tmod2 shRNA (A-C), or GFP and Tmod1 shRNA (D-F). As control, vectors co-expressing GFP and a respective shRNA mismatch construct were used. Cells were induced to differentiate by serum reduction and the addition of 40 μM retinoic acid. Shown are the percent of GFP-positive cells bearing neurites (A, D), the number of neurites per cell (excluding cells not bearing neurites; B, E) and the mean length of primary neurites (C, F). The decrease in endogenous Tmod2 leads to about a 1.8-fold (p < 0.01) increase in numbers of neurite-bearing cells (A) and about a 1.6 fold (p < 0.05) increase in the mean length of neurites (C), without effect on numbers of neurites per cell (p < 0.4) (B). The decrease in endogenous Tmod1 levels leads to about a 1.3-fold (p < 0.05) increase in neurite numbers per cell (E) and a 10% decrease in the mean length of neurites (p < 0.04) (F), without effect on percentages of neurite-bearing cells (p < 1.0) (D). Results are means ± s.e.m. across experiments for three independent experiments. Asterisks indicate significant differences compared to control at (*) p < 0.05 or (**) p < 0.01 (t-Test, paired, two tailed).