Table 1.
Morphometric analysis of the NMJ ultrastructure of the diaphragm of wild‐type and Ctgf −/− mice at embryonic day (E) 18.5 shown in Fig 5F
| Wild type | Ctgf −/− | Ratio | P | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nerve terminal area (μm2) | 3.25 ± 1.37 (n = 15) | 3.81 ± 3.87 (n = 16) | 1.17 | 0.223 |
| Area of mitochondria/area of nerve terminal (%) | 7.55 ± 3.23 (n = 15) | 2.93 ± 2.47 (n = 16) | 0.38 | 0.123 |
| Number of presynaptic mitochondria (/synapse) | 3.00 ± 1.51 (n = 15) | 0.63 ± 0.81 (n = 16) | 0.21 | 4.45E‐6a |
| Diameter of synaptic vesicles (nm) | 40.15 ± 12.23 (n = 936) | 44.36 ± 11.35 (n = 836) | 1.10 | 0.234 |
| Density of synaptic vesicles (/μm2) | 20.45 ± 10.43 (n = 15) | 16.83 ± 8.73 (n = 16) | 0.82 | 0.0423a |
| Width of the synaptic cleft (μm) | 146.23 ± 98.64 (n = 150) | 152.53 ± 129.25 (n = 160) | 1.04 | 0.154 |
| Number of active zones (/synapse) | 2.53 ± 1.14 (n = 15) | 1.01 ± 0.70 (n = 16) | 0.86 | 0.0261a |
| Number of postsynaptic folds (/synapse) | 1.20 ± 0.86 (n = 15) | 0.60 ± 0.41 (n = 15) | 0.50 | 0.0567 |
Blinded morphometric measurements were performed on electron microscopic images of the NMJs in the diaphragms at E18.5. Four wild‐type and four Ctgf −/− mice were analyzed. Mean and SD are indicated. Ratio indicates the mean value of Ctgf −/− mice divided by that of wild‐type mice. Statistical significance was calculated by two‐way repeated measures ANOVA.
a
P < 0.05 by post hoc Tukey test compared to wild type.