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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Mar 22.
Published in final edited form as: Neuron. 2012 Mar 21;73(6):1116–1126. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2012.02.009

Figure 3. Sonic Hedgehog Is Required for Proper Synaptic Development of Deep-Layer Cortical Neurons In Vivo.

Figure 3

(A–D) Golgi stained control and ShhcKO (Emx1;Shhfl/fl) brains show decreased branching and dendritic complexity and spine density of layer V neurons in Shh conditional knockouts compared to controls.

(E) Sholl analysis of layer V neurons reveals significantly fewer intersections of dendritic processes at 75, 87.5, 125, and 137.5 µm from the cell soma.

(F) There is also significant reduction in basal dendritic spine density in the ShhcKO animals when compared to the controls (0.91 ± 0.04 versus 0.72 ± 0.04).

(G and H) There is no significant change in dendritic branching or spine density in neurons of the superficial cortical layers.

(I–K) Recordings of mEPSCs from layer V neurons reveals a significant decrease in mEPSC frequency in Shh conditional knockouts (1.8 ± 0.3 Hz) when compared to littermate controls (3.0 ± 0.3 Hz). There is no significant change in mini frequency observed in superficial layer neurons (5.34 Hz versus 5.36 Hz), n = 3 animals per group and 9 cells per group. *p < 0.01, t test.