Fig. 2.

Serum response factor expression in mature excitatory neurons is essential for maintaining the proper structure of dendritic spines. a Example photographs of DiI-stained dendrites with dendritic spines of granule neurons from the dentate gyrus in WT and SRF KO animals (n = 8 animals, males and females). b Dendritic spine density of DG neurons in WT and SRF KO animals (t test, p = 0.6374, ns). c Cumulative histogram of dendritic spine length-to-width ratio (log) in WT and SRF KO DG neurons. SRF KO mice had a higher length-to-width ratio than WT mice (Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, *p = 0.0244). d Percentage of protrusions clustered into two categories (long spines vs. mushroom and stubby spines) in the DG (χ² = 24, df = 29.1, p < 0.001). Dendritic spine number and morphology were analyzed using semiautomated SpineMagic! software. Spine clustering was performed using custom scripts