Figure 4.

Prolonged cerebral exposure to LCN2 results in reduced hippocampal density of mature neurons, but an increase in newborn neurons. (a) Experimental design of ICV LCN2 experiment in male mice. (b) Cartoon coronal section of the hippocampus and dentate gyrus, highlighting the quantified regions in d, e, g, h; the three red boxes on the dentate gyrus are the areas imaged on every slice at 40X for quantification analysis. (c) Representative images of NeuN+ neurons in the dentate gyrus of mice given ICV vehicle or LCN2. (d-e; 10-day Vehicle vs LCN2, p=0.0440) Quantification of NeuN+ neuronal staining intensity in selected regions of the dentate gyrus (n = 3–4 images per region of interest; n = 4–5 mice per group). (f) Representative images of Pomc-EGFP neurons in the dentate gyrus of mice given ICV vehicle or LCN2. (g-h; 10-day Vehicle vs LCN2, p=0.0409) Quantification of Pomc-EGFP neuron density in selected regions of the dentate gyrus (n = 3–4 images per region of interest; n = 3–4 mice per group). Data in d-e, g-h are expressed as mean ± SEM. Data represented in d-e, g-h were analyzed by two-tailed Students t-tests. Scale bar = 50 μm. *p ≤ 0.05. ICV = intracerebroventricular; ROI = region of interest.