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. 2017 Nov 21;7:15908. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-16120-y

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Pcdha del(11-C2)/del(11-C2) mice, but not Pcdha del(2-11)/del(2-11) mice, exhibit altered distributions of serotonergic axons. (a) Wild-type (WT) Pcdh-α genes consist of exons (1–12, C1 and C2; green) in a variable region (VR) and exons (CR1–CR3; red) in a constant region (CR). The individual variable exons are transcribed from their own promoters. A Pcdh-α transcript is produced from one variable exon and three or four constant exons by splicing. In the del(2-11) allele, exons α2–α11 were deleted. In the del(11-C2) allele, exons α11, α12, αC1, and αC2 were deleted. (b–d) Serotonergic axons in WT, Pcdha del(2-11)/del(2-11), and Pcdha del(11-C2)/del(11-C2) mice were detected by an anti-serotonin transporter (SERT) antibody. The distribution of serotonergic axons in Pcdha del(2-11)/del(2-11) mice (c) was similar to that in WT mice (b), whereas the serotonergic fibers of Pcdha del(11-C2)/del(11-C2) mice (d) were densified in the stratum lacnosum-moleculare (SLM) of CA1, and sparsified in the stratum oriens (SO) of CA1 and in the dentate gyrus (DG), compared with WT mice. SR, stratum radiatum. Scale bar: (b–d), 500 µm. (e) Quantification of SERT(+) fibers in WT (n = 6) and Pcdha del(2-11)/del(2-11) mice (n = 5). (f) Quantification of SERT(+) fibers in WT (n = 6) and Pcdha del(11-C2)/del(11-C2) mice (n = 5). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01. Mean ± SEM. (g) Expression analysis by in situ hybridization using probes for α10, α11, α12, αC1, αC2, αCR, and Sert in adjacent coronal sections of the dorsal raphe nucleus of WT and Pcdha del(11-C2)/del(11-C2) mice.