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Fig. 1 | Acta Neuropathologica Communications

Fig. 1

From: Loss of MBNL1-mediated retrograde BDNF signaling in the myotonic dystrophy brain

Fig. 1

Loss of cytoplasmic MBNL1 expression impairs responsiveness to BDNF supplementation in neurons. (a) Examination of BDNF levels by Western blotting analysis in brains from control and EpA960/CaMKII-Cre mice aged one to 1.5 years. Three non-Tg and one EpA960 mice were included as controls. Quantification of BDNF levels, normalized with GAPDH, are shown at right. (b, c) Effect of BDNF treatment on axon development in neurons expressing Dmpk-CUG960 mRNA or upon MBNL1 depletion. (d) Effect of cytoplasmic MBNL1 overexpression on neuronal responsiveness to BDNF treatment. Neurons were transfected with plasmids expressing Dmpk-CUG960 mRNA (DMPK-CUG960) or Dmpk mRNA control (DMPK-CUG0) in (b), with plasmids expressing Mbnl1 shRNA (pLKO-shMbnl1) or control shRNA (pLKO) in (c), or with plasmids expressing Dmpk-CUG960 plus cytoplasmic MBNL1 (FLAG-MBNL1ΔEx5) or Dmpk mRNA control alone in (d). Plasmid expressing GFP was co-transfected to label neuronal morphology. Quantification of total axon length is shown at right. Numbers of neurons (n, from three independent cultured neuronal preparations and transfections) used for quantification are indicated. Data are mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, by Student’s t-test (a) or one-way ANOVA with Holm-Sidak test (b-d). Scale bar: b-d, 100 μm

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