FIGURE 5:

Effect of depletion of STEF, Tiam1, or Vav2/Vav3 on dbcAMP-induced neurite outgrowth. PC12D cells were transfected with an empty pSUPER vector, pSUPER-STEF, pSUPER-Tiam1, or both pSUPER-Vav2 and pSUPER-Vav3. After recovery, the cells were incubated with puromycin for 2 d. Then the selected cells were cultured with dbcAMP for 2 d and fixed for microscopy. At least 50 cells were assessed in each experiment, and the experiments were repeated three times. (A) Representative phase-contrast images of the control cells (top left), STEF-depleted cells (top right), Tiam1-depleted cells (bottom left), and Vav2/Vav3-depleted cells (bottom right). Bars, 10 μm. (B) Cells with neurites the lengths of which were at least twofold longer than their cell body lengths were scored as neurite-bearing cells. The results are expressed as the mean percentage of neurite-bearing cells with SE. The symbol indicates the result of a Student's t test; **p < 0.01 compared with the control.