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Fig. 5 | Molecular Neurodegeneration

Fig. 5

From: Mfn2 ablation causes an oxidative stress response and eventual neuronal death in the hippocampus and cortex

Fig. 5

Mfn2 ablation caused neurodegeneration in the hippocampus and cortex in vivo. a Representative H&E stains of the hippocampus revealed an obvious pattern of hippocampus neuronal degeneration in the CA1 area of Mfn2 cKO mice with aging, yet the dentate gyrus and CA2 remained intact across all ages. b Enlarged picture of H&E staining of the CA1 neurons revealed a shrunken appearance of nuclei of many CA1 neurons in the Mfn2 cKO mice starting at 12 weeks of age. c Using low magnification images immunostained using NeuN, the cortical area also becomes shrunken with age (c) and quantification reveals this is a significant correlation (F, p < 0.001). d Enlarged picture of the boxed areas in (c) of the NeuN staining of the CA1 neurons. Quantification revealed a significant loss of neurons in both the cortex and CA1 of the hippocampus at 18 weeks (e). Neuronal apoptosis detected by TUNEL assay was only seen at 18 weeks in both the hippocampus and cortex (g). No apoptotic cells were present in any of the 4 or 12 week old cKO mice, but the number of CA1 neurons is reduced in the 12 week old mice compared to the 4 week old mice seen in the DapI images, reflecting the cellular changes noted by H&E staining at 12 weeks of age

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