Fig. 9.

Gde2 is required postnatally to prevent neurodegeneration. a, b H&E staining shows increased vacuolization in Gde2 ^lox/-;ROSA:Cre^ER motor neurons (arrows). Scale bar = 10 μm. c Quantification of increased vacuolization in Gde2 ^lox/-;ROSA:Cre^ER mice. *p = 0.007, n = 3. d, e Peripherin immunoreactivity is increased in motor neurons of Gde2 ^lox/-;ROSA:Cre^ER animal (arrows). Scale bar = 10 μm. f Graph quantifying increased peripherin signal in artificial fluorescence units (A.F.U). *p = 0.011, n = 3. g, h Enhanced lipofuscin accumulation is seen with the postnatal ablation of Gde2 (arrows). Scale bar = 5 μm. i Quantification of lipofuscin granules per neuron. *p = 0.002, n = 3. Graphs represent mean ± SEM, Student’s t test. j–q Conditional ablation of Gde2 induces aberrant microglial morphology (arrows), visualized by Iba1 staining. Scale bar = 10 μm. r–u Gde2 ^lox/-;ROSA:Cre^ER exhibit satellitosis (arrows) comparable to the constitutive Gde2 KO. Scale bar = 20 μm. See also Additional file 1: Figure S2