Fig. 3

Synaptic loss in thoracic SC of TDP-43-positive ALS correlates with synaptic loss in lumbar and cervical SC. a–d Representative pictures of SC (T10-T12; overview, a) and with high-magnification insets from lamina I-II (b), lamina VII (c) and lamina IX (d) from pTDP-43 + ALS cases with different disease duration and neuropathological stage; immunostaining for synaptophysin, 50 µm paraffin sections. Scale bar = 500 µm overview, 20 µm inset. e–g. synaptic area is unchanged in lamina I-II (3) and lamina VII (f) but shows a very strong trend toward decrease in lamina IX (g). h The synaptic area in lamina IX is highly correlated with synaptic area in the lamina IX of lumbar SC. i The synaptic area in lamina IX is highly correlated with synaptic area in the lamina IX of cervical SC. Data information: In (e–g), data are presented as means ± SD. ns, p > 0.05 (t-test and Pearson´s correlation)