Figure 2.

BACE1 inhibitor MK-8931 altered plasticity of dendritic spines in vivo. (A) Micrographs of eGFP-labeled apical dendrites of layer V pyramidal neurons in somatosensory cortex before, during and after administration of vehicle or MK-8931. Treatment started 8 days after first imaging timepoint and was continued over 21 days, every 12 h. White arrowheads exemplarily mark representative spines which were stable over the entire imaging period. Newly gained spines are labeled with green arrowheads and lost spines are labeled with magenta arrowheads. (B) Quantification of spine density (C,D) fraction of gained and lost spines in mice treated with vehicle or MK-8931 (20 mg/kg). N = 5 animals per group, n = 10 dendrites per animal. Data is presented as mean ± SEM. Bonferroni post-hoc test results: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001 from two-way ANOVA (day 0–28).