Figure 4From: The PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway regulates Aβ oligomer induced neuronal cell cycle eventsCell autonomous induction of BrdU and MAP2 process loss in primary neurons from the R1.40 transgenic mouse model of AD. Cultured primary cortical neurons (21 DIV) from non-transgenic (WT, A) and homozygous R1.40 (R/R, B) mouse embryos were incubated with fresh NB media in presence of BrdU for 24 h. Following fixation, cells were immunostained with antibodies against MAP2 (green in A and B) and BrdU (red in A and B) revealing elevated incorporation of BrdU and a decrease in the length of MAP2 positive processes in the R/R cultures. C. Quantification of the percentage of BrdU positive/MAP2 positive cells demonstrated a statistically significant (p = 0.0012; unpaired t test; mean ± SEM; n = 4 independent cultures) increase in R/R cultures when compared to WT cultures. D-F. Quantification of the total dendrite count (total area occupied by all MAP2 positive dendrites per a given field/image) (D) and number of MAP positive processes per cell (E) were not significantly different between WT and R/R cultures, while the number of MAP2 positive processes longer than 5 μm per cell (F) were significantly (p < 0.001; unpaired t test; n = 4 independent cultures) reduced in the R/R cultures when compared to the WT cultures.Back to article page