Fig. 6

Increases of apoptotic cells in the cerebral cortex of IN-PS cDKO mice. a Representative images of active caspase-3-immunoreactive cells in the neocortex (NCX) and hippocampus (HP) of control and IN-PS cDKO mice at the age of 9 months. Active caspase-3-positive cells are shown in brown with red arrowheads. Inserts show higher power views of the boxed areas. The sections were counterstained with hematoxylin. Compared to controls, there are more cells positive of active caspase-3 in the NCX and HP of IN-PS cDKO mice. b Stereological quantification shows significant age-dependent increases in the number of active caspase-3-immunoreactive cells in the NCX (F_{1, 24} = 0.18, p = 0.67; 3 M: p = 0.0393, 9 M: p = 0.0036, two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s post hoc comparisons) and HP (F_{1, 24} = 4.22, p = 0.05; 3 M: p = 0.67, 9 M: p = 0.0006) of IN-PS cDKO mice compared to controls. c Representative images of TUNEL staining in the NCX and HP of littermate control and IN-PS cDKO mice at the age of 9 months. TUNEL+ cells are shown in green with yellow arrowheads. Inserts show higher power views of the boxed areas. More TUNEL+ cells are present in the NCX and HP of IN-PS cDKO mice compared to controls. d Stereological quantification shows significant age-dependent increases in the number of TUNEL+ cells in the NCX (F_{1, 24} = 1.30, p = 0.27; 3 M: p = 0.10, 9 M: p = 0.0008, two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s post hoc comparisons) and HP (F_{1, 24} = 0.61, p = 0.44; 3 M: p = 0.0014, 9 M: p < 0.0001) of IN-PS cDKO mice compared to controls. Scale bar: 100 μm. All data represent mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001. The value in the column indicates the number of mice used in each experiment