Fig. 6

Effects of PQQ administration on RGC-specific retinal mitochondrial morphology in vivo. A Representative images of retinal cross sections from MitoV animals treated long-term with either vehicle or 20 mg/kg PQQ immunolabeled for YFP (an antibody anti-GFP was used to limit loss of signal from potential bleaching of YFP; the staining is indicated here as MitoV) (green) 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 depicting individual volume (B), surface area (C) and sphericity (D) of MitoV-positive mitochondrial particles in GCL/NFL of animals treated with either vehicle or PQQ. n = 176 vehicle and 268 PQQ disconnected particles in 7 different retinas per group. E–G Averaged volume sum (E), surface area sum (F) and count (G) per retina of MitoV-positive mitochondrial particles in GCL/NFL. n = 7 retinas per group. H–J Violin plots showing individual volume (H), surface area (I) and sphericity (J) of MitoV-positive mitochondrial particles in IPL of vehicle and PQQ-treated animals. n = 600 vehicle and 552 PQQ disconnected particles in 7 different retinas per group. K–M Averaged volume sum (K), surface area sum (L) and count (M) per retina of MitoV-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 distribution of the data. *p < 0.05 versus vehicle