Fig. 2
Quantitative analysis of motor neurons in the anterior horn of lumbar spinal cord. a Representative images for fluorescence Nissl staining in the anterior horn. Nissl positive neurons were detected in the anterior horn of lumbar spinal cord (L4–5) from the mice with four different genotypes; wild-type (WT), SQSTM1, SOD1H46R (H46R), and SQSTM1;SOD1H46R (SQSTM1;H46R) at 16 and 22 weeks of age (wk), and at end-stage (H46R and SQSTM1;H46R) or at 28 wk. (WT and SQSTM1). Cells covering the area of over 240 square pixels (px), corresponding to large motor neurons, are surrounded by red circles, and counted. Scale bars = 50 μm. b Number of large Nissl-positive neurons in the anterior horn of lumbar spinal cord. Vertical axis represents the cumulative number of motor neurons identified in 5 representative Nissl staining images of every tenth serial sections from each sample (n = 3–4, SOD1H46R and SQSTM1;SOD1H46R mice at 22 wk. and end-stage; n = 4, others; n = 3). Values are mean ± s.e.m.. Statistical significance was evaluated by two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s post hoc test (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01)