Figure 1. Cholesterol depletion alters mechanosensitivity of sensory neurons.

(a) Bright field (top) and fluorescence (bottom) images of filipin-labelled neurons treated without (left) or with MβCD (right). Scale bar, 10 μm. (b) Left: representative traces of SA-, IA- and RA-mechanosensitive currents evoked by stimulating sensory neuron neurites. Right: stacked histograms showing the proportions of different mechano-gated currents observed in control and MβCD-treated neurons (χ²-test, P<0.01). Note the marked loss of SA-mechanosensitive current in MβCD-treated neurons (Fisher's exact test, P<0.01). NR, non-responsive to given displacement 512 nm. **P<0.01.