Figure 1.

3,3′,5-Triiodo-L-thyronine (T3) enhances mitochondrial biogenesis and dendritic outgrowth in cerebellar Purkinje cells. Primary cerebellar cell cultures prepared from P0 mice were incubated for 10 days in the absence or presence of different concentrations of T3. The morphology of Purkinje cells was visualized by immunostaining with anti-Calbindin. (A,B) Dose-dependent effects of T3 on total length (A) and branch number (B) of Purkinje cell dendrites at 10 DIV. (C) Purkinje cells were labeled with adeno-associated viruses (AAV)-Mito-EGFP to visualize mitochondria and cultured with or without 10 nM T3. Cells were costained with anti-Calbindin and anti-pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) antibodies. Scale bar, 20 μm. (D,E) Quantification of mitochondrial content (D) and PDH expression (E) in Purkinje cells with or without T3 treatment. Signal intensity was normalized to the value of cells in the T3-deficient (T3-) condition. N = 30 for all data points. Data represent mean ± SEM; ***p < 0.001, Student’s t test.