Fig. 3.
BTBR mice display deficits in the development of the enteric nervous system (a) Anti-ChAT staining (green) in whole mount preparations of distal colon revealed the fine structure of myenteric plexus (MP), with ganglia and interconnecting fibers. Cellular nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). (b) The spatial density of MP was decreased in BTBR mice. (c) Myenteric ganglia were co-stained against pan-neuronal marker HuC/HuD (green) and nNOS (red). (d) BTBR mice showed a reduction in total and nNOS-positive neuronal numbers. Scale bar represents 100 μm *p < 0.05 for BTBR vs. C57BL/6 group. Statistical analysis: data are presented as median with IQR and min/max values as error bars; n = 5 in either group. U(9) = 0.000, p = 0.004 for MP area; U(9) = 30.000, p = 0.004 for interganglionic space; U(9) = 6.000, p = 0.126 for MP contact ratio; U(9) = 5.000, p = 0.082 for MP thickness; U(8) = 0.000, p = 0.008 for HuC/HuD neurons; U(8) = 0.000, p = 0.008 for nNOS neurons, Mann-Whitney test.