Fig. 4
Spine alteration in APPOSK-expressing tau knockout neurons. a Primary neurons were prepared from tau knockout mice and doubly transfected with APP and GFP. Scale bar, 30 μm. Lower panels, enlarged views of the dendrites surrounded with a square. b Spine density and morphology in GFP-positive neurons were analyzed. APPWT-expressing cells showed no differences in the number of total and each type spine compared to mock-transfectants. In contrast, APPOSK-expressing cells exhibited a significant reduction in the number of total and mushroom-type spines with no significant changes in other types. c, d Comparison of spine alteration between wild-type (Fig. 2) and tau knockout neurons expressing APPOSK. c There were no differences in the density of mushroom-type and total spines between wild-type and tau knockout neurons. d APPOSK expression reduced the spine density in both wild-type and tau knockout neurons: No differences in the reduction of mushroom-type (p = 0.4835) and total spines (p = 0.9702) between these neurons