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. 2012 Jul 5;6(1):72–83. doi: 10.1242/dmm.008946

Fig. 6.

Fig. 6.

Microtubule-targeting drugs rescue the pathological phenotype of SpΔ/Δ cortical neurons. (A) Immunolabeling of acetylated α-tubulin on DIV6 primary cultures of Sp+/+ (Aa) and SpΔ/Δ (Ab–Af) cortical neurons untreated (Aa,Ab) or treated 5 days post-plating with 100 nM of nocodazole (Ad), 10 nM of vinblastine (Ae), 10 nM of taxol (Af) or the equivalent volume of DMSO (vehicule; Ac). Note the absence of axonal swellings in the distal region of SpΔ/Δ cortical neurons treated with microtubule-targeting drugs (Ad–Af; arrowheads) compared with untreated or DMSO-treated SpΔ/Δ neurons (Ab,Ac; arrows). The neurite morphology of mutant neurons treated with microtubule-targeting drugs appears similar to that of Sp+/+ neurons (Aa). Scale bar: 50 μm. (B) The percentage of axonal swellings in SpΔ/Δ cortical neuron cultures was evaluated at DIV6. Note that the nanomolar concentration of microtubule targeting-drugs significantly decreases the proportion of neurite swellings in primary cultures of SpΔ/Δ neurons compared with DMSO-treated cultures. Asterisks indicate statistically different percentages between DMSO-treated neurons and 100 nM nocodazole-, 10 nM vinblastine- or 10 nM taxol-treated cells: *P<0.05, **P<0.001, ***P<0.0001. Vertical bars indicate s.e.m. More than 1000 neurons were analyzed per experimental condition.