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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Jan 15.
Published in final edited form as: Neuroscience. 2012 Nov 14;229:55–70. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2012.10.069

Figure 9. Bdnf mRNA in superior colliculus.

Figure 9

A) Bdnf antisense probe (red) heavily labelled collicular neurons expressing phosphorylated neurofilament (pNF, green) in the C57 colliculus. GFAP-expressing astrocytes (blue) lying adjacent to pNF+ neurons along the dorsal border of superficial layer 1 also appeared to express Bdnf. A higher-magnification view of the boxed area indicates intense co-localization of Bdnf and pNF. B) Control Bdnf sense probe (red) elicits no label, as expected, in stacked images through C57 colliculus. pNF+ cell bodies along border (arrowheads) are sheathed with astrocyte processes. C) A 3 mo DBA/2J colliculus demonstrates increased GFAP and similar pattern of Bdnf. GFAP+ processes with Bdnf are less prominent than neuronal expression in the deeper layers of the superficial SC (arrowhead). (D) Bdnf expression decreases in 9 mo DBA/2J colliculus with increased GFAP in astrocytes. Higher magnification shows confluence of astrocyte processes overlying Bdnf -expressing neuron (arrowhead). Images in A–D are stacked confocal planes. (E) Series of single plane images through colliculus shown in (D) illustrates astrocyte processes enveloping a Bdnf -expressing neuron (arrowheads). Scale = 50 µm (low magnification panels) or 20 µm (high magnification).