Figure 5. Measurements of neurite length in control and with AChE transfected or treated cells.

(A) Neurites of type III cells (neuron-like) are longer in AChE-transfected R28 than in control cells (open bars), and even much longer when they are grown on laminin-1 (dark bars). Note drastic increase of neurite lengths in AChE-overexpressing cells grown on laminin-1 (upper, right). (B) Supplementation of cultures with recombinant AChE leads to similar results; note, however increase in presence of AChE is more pronounced than in AChE-overexpressing cells (cf. upper). Neurites of α-tubulin-labelled cells were measured using specific software. At least 100 cells from three different passages were measured and averaged. In the case of stably transfected clones, only AChE-positive cells were included in the measurements. Values are mean ± SEM from 5 different experiments, *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001. (C) Immunostaining with an anti (His)₆ Tag antibody (green) of R28 cells treated with (His)₆ Tag E6-AChE. Cell nuclei are stained with DAPI (blue). Scale bar 200 µm.