Figure 5.
Egr3 ablation in sympathetic neurons impairs their target tissue innervation. Tissues known to have abnormal target tissue innervation in germline Egr3 KO mice, where Egr3 is absent in all tissues (Eldredge et al., 2008), were examined in DCτlZ+; Egr3f/− (cKO) mice using semiquantitative TH immunofluorescence. Compared with DCτlz+; Egr3+/− (Ctl) mice, sympathetic innervation to the heart (A, left ventricle, lv) was reduced by 58%, in the spleen by 57% (B), in the kidney by 41% (C), and in the pineal gland (D) by 56% in DCτlZ+; Egr3f/− (cKO) mice. Unlike the heart and pineal gland where TH+ fibers innervated the tissues diffusely, in the spleen the majority of the innervation was confined to the subcapsular space and in the kidney it was localized primarily to the juxtaglomerular organ highlighted by immunofluorescent staining for renin (Rn). *p < 0.02, N = 3–4 animals of each genotype analyzed, as indicated in parentheses. Scale bars: 50 μm.