FIGURE 4. Role of MACF1 in dendritic spine formation.

(A) MACF1-deleted neurons show aberrant dendritic spines. Cortical neurons from E14.5 control (MACF1^loxP/+) and MACF1^loxP/loxP brains were cultured for 5 days, and then transfected with a plasmid encoding Dcx-cre-iGFP. Spines were assessed in GFP-positive neurons at 14 DIV. Bar, 10 μm. (B) Higher magnification images shown in (A). (C) The numbers, lengths, and sizes of spines were quantified. n = 45 cells from 3 independent cultures using 3 mice for each condition. Statistical significance was determined by two-tailed Student's t-test. **p < 0.01. ***p < 0.001.