Table 1.
Ratio of axosomatic synapse profiles to Purkinje cell somatic profiles in control, activity-blocked, and neurotrophin-treated activity-blocked organotypic cerebellar cultures
| Cultures | No. of cell profiles | No. of synapse profiles | Mean ± SEM ratio of synapse to cell profiles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Control (n = 10) | 103 | 228 | 2.21 ± 0.13 |
| Mg2+/TTX (n = 10) | 102 | 127 | 1.25 ± 0.10 |
| Mg2+/TTX/BDNF (n = 11) | 102 | 235 | 2.30 ± 0.14 |
| Control (n = 11) | 100 | 200 | 2.00 ± 0.14 |
| Mg2+/TTX (n = 12) | 101 | 104 | 1.03 ± 0.11 |
| Mg2+/TTX/NT-3 (n = 11) | 103 | 107 | 1.04 ± 0.11 |
| Control (n = 10) | 100 | 215 | 2.15 ± 0.13 |
| Mg2+/TTX (n = 11) | 100 | 121 | 1.21 ± 0.11 |
| Mg2+/TTX/NT-4 (n = 11) | 104 | 209 | 2.01 ± 0.12 |
Control and untreated activity-blocked cerebellar explants from the same culture set-ups as neurotrophin-treated activity-blocked cultures were compared at 15 DIV. n is the number of cerebellar cultures from which the data were obtained. One-way ANOVA followed by the Tukey HSD multiple comparisons test indicates the following. (1) The axosomatic synapse profile to Purkinje cell soma profile ratio in untreated activity-blocked cultures (Mg2+/TTX) is significantly different from the ratios for control and BDNF-treated activity-blocked (Mg2+/TTX/BDNF) cultures (p < 0.001 in both cases), whereas there is no significant difference between control and BDNF-treated activity-blocked explants (p = 0.865). (2) The synapse profile to cell profile ratio in control cultures is significantly different from the ratios for untreated activity-blocked (Mg2+/TTX) and NT-3-treated activity-blocked (Mg2+/TTX/NT-3) cultures (p < 0.001 in both cases), whereas there is no significant difference between untreated activity-blocked and NT-3-treated activity-blocked explants (p = 0.998). (3) The axosomatic synapse profile to cell soma profile ratio in untreated activity-blocked cultures (Mg2+/TTX) is significantly different from the ratios for control and NT-4-treated activity-blocked (Mg2+/TTX/NT-4) cultures (p < 0.001 in both cases), whereas there is no significant difference between the ratios for control and NT-4-treated activity-blocked cerebellar explants (p = 0.680).