Fig. 6

Proliferation assay in slice cultures. BrdU (50μM) was applied from DIV15 of the culturing period until DIV30 and refreshed at every culture media change. The slices were fixed with 4% formaldehyde and immunostained by anti-BrdU antibody. a Representative image of BrdU positive cells in the hippocampal CA3 region in the controls, anti-aggregant Tau^RDΔKPP and pro-aggregant Tau^RDΔK slices. BrdU positive proliferating cells were observed in the CA1, CA3 and the DG regions of the hippocampal slice cultures. The localization of these proliferating cells is not only restricted to the SGZ of the DG in OHSCs. b Quantification of the number of BrdU positive cells in the CA1, CA3 and the DG regions in the controls, anti-aggregant Tau^RDΔKPP and pro-aggregant Tau^RDΔK slices. There is an increase in BrdU positive proliferating cells by 30% in CA1 and CA3 and 100% increase in DG region in the anti-aggregant Tau^RDΔKPP slices (pink bars). Note that the pro-aggregant Tau^RDΔK slices do not show a significant difference in the number of BrdU positive cells (blue bars) compared to that of the controls (grey bars). All the BrdU positive cells were counted blindly and manually using the ImageJ software. Results are shown as mean ±SEM of 10 animals and 4-6 slices per animal. Data was analyzed by Student's t test. *p<0.05 and ****p<0.0001 compared to controls