Fig. 1.

The lack of SRF does not affect the general architecture of the adult hippocampus despite changes of actin cytoskeletal components. a Quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis of Srf, Actb, and Actg and Acta1 mRNA levels in the hippocampus in control wild-type littermates (WT) and knockout mice (KO; n ≥ 4 for each genotype; Mann–Whitney nonparametric test, SRF, **p = 0.0079; Actb, **p = 0.0079, Actg, *p = 0.0159, Acta1, p = 0.5556, ns). b Hippocampus weight analysis in control and SRF KO animals (n = 6 for each genotype; Mann–Whitney nonparametric test, p = 0.3000, ns). No differences in total hippocampus weight were found between genotypes. c Nissl staining of brain sections from WT and SRF KO animals. d Western blot analysis with β-actin antibody. Each line represents a single animal. e Downregulation of β-actin protein in DG extracts from SRF KO animals (n ≥ 4; Mann–Whitney nonparametric test, *p = 0.0159). f Western blot analysis with p-cofilin 1 and cofilin 1 antibody. Each line represents a single animal. g Increase in cofilin 1 phosphorylation in DG extracts from SRF KO mice relative to total cofilin 1 level (n ≥ 4; Mann–Whitney nonparametric test, *p = 0.0175)