Figure 1.

C-bouton silencing and humane end points of mSOD1^G93A/C^off mice. A, B, The C-boutons are present in wild-type mice (A), but were completely silenced in mSOD1^G93A/C^off mice (B), as shown by the absence of ChAT⁺ synapses to the motor neurons. C, The humane end points of mSOD1^G93A and mSOD1^G93A/C^off mice were determined by the Dalhousie University animal care staff based on the health and ability of the mice, or if the mice lost 15% of their peak weight. There were no significant differences in the age at the humane end point between untrained mSOD1^G93A and mSOD1^G93A/C^off mice (ANOVA, p > 0.05); however, mSOD1^G93A/C^off mice that frequently swam reached the humane end point significantly later than their untrained mSOD1^G93A/C^off counterparts (ANOVA with Tukey's test, p < 0.05). Boxplot displays lower and upper extremes, lower and upper quartiles, and median.