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. 2013 Jan 10;22(8):1539–1557. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddt005

Figure 7.

Figure 7.

Upper motor neuron-specific RNAi-mediated downregulation and gain of TBPH causes loss of neuronal connections and age-related neurodegeneration. (A–C) Control flies with mCD8::GFP overexpression in upper motor neurons at day 40 (B, enlargement of dashed box in A; C, additional example). (D–F) TBPH LOF flies (EB1>mCD8::GFP, Dcr2, TBPH-IR) with TBPH-RNAi targeted to upper motor neurons at day 40. The GFP expression in the ellipsoid body structure does not diminish in the aged brain, however, dispersed cells with fragmented and granular GFP expression are detectable (E, enlargement of dashed box in D; F, additional example). (G) Quantification of EB1 neuron cell number (GFP positive) in control and TBPH LOF flies at day 5, 40 and 50. A significant decrease in neuron number is observed in aged TBPH LOF flies. (H–J) Control flies with mCD8::GFP overexpression in EB1 ring neurons at day 40 (I–J, enlarged example of cell bodies). (K–M) TBPH and mCD8::GFP overexpression in upper motor neurons leads to an age-related reduction in mCD8::GFP expression (L–M, enlarged example of cell bodies). (N) Quantification of EB1 cell numbers (GFP positive) in control and TBPH GOF flies at day 5, 40 and 60. A significant decrease in neuron number is observed over time in TBPH GOF flies. **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. Mean and SEM are indicated. Scale bar: 50 µm.