Figure 2.

Knockdown of Iqsec2 expression leads to altered morphology of developing hippocampal neurons. Hippocampal neurons were examined after 8 days in culture (8DIV) for gross morphological measures following knockdown of endogenous Iqsec2. In the top panel, pictomicrographs of hippocampal neurons transfected with (a–d) control shRL, shRA, shRB and shRC, respectively. (e) Scholl analysis of neuron interceptions on concentric circles at distance from the cell soma show broader spread for neurons with knockdown of Iqsec2; (control shRL pale gray dotted line; shRA solid dark gray line, shRB dark gray dashed line; shRC in pale gray solid line). Morphological measures include the number of times the neuron intercepted the concentric circles (f), the number of projections from the cell body (g), number of dendrite termini (h), the furthest concentric circle reached by the primary axon (i) and the length of the primary axon (j) for neurons transfected with shRNA vectors to reduce Iqsec2 expression (control shRL in white bars; shRA and shRB analysis in dark gray bars; shRC in pale gray bars). Data represent mean+s.e.m., from shRL (n=47), shRA (n=39), shRB (n=34) and shRC (n=42) treated neurons from three biological replicates. Scale bar, 100 μm. Significance *P<0.05 vs shRL and ^P<0.05 vs shRC. DIV, days in vitro; IQSEC2, intelligence quotient motif and SEC7 domain containing protein 2 gene; shRNA, short hairpin RNA.