Fig. 8

Truncated AF mutants reduce F-actin integrity at dendritic spines. Cultured hippocampal neurons were transfected with the indicated plasmids at 12 DIV and harvested for immunostaining at 18 DIV. a–c Expression patterns and levels of full-length AF, AF-N, AF-C, as revealed by Myc antibody. Full-length AF exhibits a punctate signal, but both AF-N and AF-C show diffuse patterns. a Representative images of whole cells. b Relative expression levels of AF variants in mature neurons. c Representative images of enlarged dendrite segments. d–f Truncated AF mutants reduce F-actin intensity in mature cultured neurons. Phalloidin staining was performed to assess F-actin integrity. d Representative images of whole cells and enlarged dendrite segments. e Representative images of dendritic protrusions. Heat maps show the intensities of F-actin. f Quantification of F-actin intensity at dendritic protrusions. N the number of analyzed neurons; n the number of analyzed dendritic protrusions. Samples were randomly collected from two independent experiments without knowing the treatment. Data represent the mean plus SEM. **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; ns, not significant. Scale bar: a 20 μm; c 10 μm; d whole cell: 20 μm, enlarged inset: 2 μm; e 1 μm. One-way ANOVA (b, f)