Fig. 5

Effects of PQQ administration on retinal gross mitochondrial morphology in vivo. A Representative images of retinal cross sections from animals treated long-term with either vehicle or 20 mg/kg PQQ immunolabeled for TOMM20 (red) and counterstained with DAPI (blue). The DAPI was used for reference to crop GCL/NFL from IPL. Dashed lines demark the boundaries between GCL/NFL, IPL and INL on retinal sections. B–D Violin plots representing individual volume (B), surface area (C) and sphericity (D) of TOMM20-positive mitochondrial particles in GCL/NFL of vehicle or PQQ-treated animals. n = 555 vehicle and 812 PQQ disconnected particles from 7 different retinas per group. E–G Averaged volume sum (E), surface area sum (F) and count (G) per retina of TOMM20-positive mitochondrial particles in GCL/NFL. n = 7 retinas per group. H–J Violin plots showing individual TOMM20-positive mitochondrial particles volume (H), surface area (I) and sphericity (J) in IPL of vehicle or PQQ-treated animals. n = 1318 vehicle and 1361 PQQ disconnected particles from 7 different retinas per group. K–M Averaged volume sum (K), surface area sum (L) and count (M) per retina of TOMM20-positive mitochondrial particles in IPL. n = 7 retinas per group. For individual parameters, individual values of disconnected particles from each retina were analyzed together and a linear mixed effects model was applied to account for the multiple observations that come from the same sample. Scale bar = 20 μm. GCL, ganglion cell layer; INL, inner nuclear layer; IPL, inner plexiform layer; NFL, nerve fiber layer. The red zoom depicts the inset of data points to optimally visualize the data distribution