Skip to main content
. 2018 Jul 27;141(9):2772–2794. doi: 10.1093/brain/awy190

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Negr1 or FGFR2 downregulation affects late-born neuron migration and spine density in vivo. (A) Experimental protocol with standard in utero electroporation for targeting LII/III of the mouse somatosensory cortex. (B) Confocal images of GFP fluorescence in coronal sections of somatosensory cortices at E18 transfected in utero (at E15.5) with scrambled siRNA (control), Negr1 siRNA or Fgfr2 siRNA. Slices were counterstained with nuclear staining DAPI for visualization of cortical layers (left). Scale bar = 100 µm. Dotted lines indicate cortical zone borders. VZ = ventricular zone; IZ = intermediate zone; CP = cortical plate. (C) Quantification of the number of transfected neurons residing at the ventricular zone, intermediate zone, or cortical plate in experiments as in B. Data are expressed as a percentage of the total number of fluorescent cells in the section. Asterisks indicate statistically significant difference (two-way ANOVA against control; post hoc Holm-Sidak: *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001). Numbers in parentheses indicate total number of processed animals (1 slice/animal). (D) GFP fluorescence in coronal sections of somatosensory cortices of transfected animals at P7. Left: DAPI counterstaining. Scale bar = 100 µm. Dotted lines indicate slice border. WM = white matter. (E) Quantification of the number of transfected neurons that did not complete their migration in experiments as in D. Data are expressed as average percentage of the total number of fluorescent cells in the section. Asterisks indicate statistically significant difference (Kruskal-Wallis test against control; Dunn’s post hoc: ***P < 0.001). Numbers in parenthesis indicate total number of processed animals (1 slice/animal). (F) GFP fluorescence in dendrites of somatosensory cortical neurons of P25 transfected mice. Scale bar = 5 μm. (G) Quantification of the spine density in experiments as in F (P20–25 mice). Data are expressed as average. Asterisks indicate statistically significant difference (one-way ANOVA against control; Holm-Sidak post hoc: ***P < 0.001. Numbers in parentheses indicate total number of processed animals (1–3 dendrites/slice, 1–3 slices/animal).