Figure 8.

DINE deficiency demonstrates abnormal interaction between neurites and Schwann cells in vitro. A, Motor neurons from E12.5 embryos of WT and KO mice were cultured for 3 d and immunostained by anti-neurofilament (NF) antibody. No obvious difference in morphology was identified. B, In NF-labeled neurons, the length of the longest neurite from the cell body was measured before (left) and after (right) addition of separately cultured rat Schwann cells to the motor neuron culture. There were no significant differences in length of neurites before and after addition of Schwann cells. C, Motor neurons from WT, KO, KO;Tg^WT, or KO;Tg^mut embryos were cocultured with WT Schwann cells. Neurites and Schwann cells were stained with anti-NF (green) and anti-S100 (red) antibodies, respectively. Insets, High magnification of Schwann cells associating with neurites. D, Proportion of aligned Schwann cells along neurites (C, arrows) was compared between WT, KO, KO;Tg^WT, and KO;Tg^mut mice. The proportion of aligned Schwann cells in coculture using motor neurons from KO and KO;Tg^mut mice was significantly different from those in coculture using motor neurons from WT and KO;Tg^WT mice. The number of nonaligned Schwann cells was greater in KO and KO;Tg^mut mice. *p < 0.05. Scale bars: A, C, 100 μm. n.s., Not significant. Error bars indicate SD.