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. 2016 Jun 15;36(24):6538–6552. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2869-15.2016

Figure 5.

Figure 5.

Ndel1 CKO mice show reduced number of synapses, decreased frequency of mIPSCs, and lower number of synaptic vesicles at inhibitory (symmetric) synapses in CA1 hippocampus. A, Approximately 35% decrease in the number of dendritic spines on CA1 pyramidal neurons of 9-week-old Ndel1 CKO mice (−/−) compared with WT littermates (+/+), and representative Golgi-stained CA1 pyramidal neurons. WT: 9.53 ± 1.18 versus Ndel1 CKO: 6.33 ± 0.17; mean ± SD (n = 5 animals). ***p < 0.0005. B, A ∼50% decrease in the total number of synapses in CA1 of 9-week-old Ndel1 CKO mice as detected by electron microscopy, and representative electron microscopic photographs of CA1 hippocampus. WT: 41.0 ± 4.4% versus Ndel1 CKO: 20.6 ± 2.7%; mean ± SD (n = 4 animals). ***p < 0.001. Arrows indicate synapses. C, A ∼50% decrease in the number of asymmetric (AS) and symmetric synapses (SS) in CA1 of 9-week-old Ndel1 CKO mice as counted under electron microscopy. AS: WT: 33.3 ± 5.3% versus Ndel1 CKO: 17.1 ± 4.0%; mean ± SD (n = 4). **p < 0.01. SS: WT: 7.8 ± 3.3% versus Ndel1 CKO: 3.5 ± 1.5%; mean ± SD (n = 4 animals). *p < 0.05. D, Representative traces of mIPSCs recorded in the presence of AP5, DNQX, and TTX on CA1 pyramidal neurons in 7-week-old Ndel1 CKO mice (red trace, n = 14) and WT littermates (green trace, n = 5). Note the decreased mIPSCs frequency (from 2.7 ± 0.5 Hz in control to 1.6 ± 0.1 Hz CKO; *p = 0.01) but no significant change in amplitude (34.0 ± 3.3 pA in control vs 32.9 ± 1.0 pA CKO; p = 0.69). E, A ∼50% decrease in the number of synaptic vesicles at inhibitory (symmetric) synapses per μm2 of CA1 in 9-week-old Ndel1 CKO mice (−/−) compared with WT littermates (+/+), and representative electron microscopic photographs of flattened, ellipsoidal, or pleomorphic vesicles found in symmetric synapses of CA1. WT: 215.6 ± 18.7 versus Ndel1 CKO: 98.5 ± 9.8; mean ± SD (n = 4 animals). ***p < 0.0001. Student's t test was used for all statistical analyses in this figure. Two blinded independent investigators completed all counts in these experiments.