Fig. 4From: GDF11 expressed in the adult brain negatively regulates hippocampal neurogenesisGdf11 depletion increases overall proliferation, increases the number of neural progenitors, and decreases the number of newborn neurons in the adult hippocampus. A Representative immunohistochemical micrographs comparing the expression of Ki67, Sox2/GFAP, DCX/NeuN, and NeuN/BrdU in the DG of Gdf11flox/flox and Gdf11cKO mice. Scale bar = 20 μm. B Quantification of overall proliferation as measured by the number of Ki67+ cells per DG mm2 (74% increase in Gdf11cKO mice, n = 6 mice per group). C Quantification of the number of neural stem cells (25% nonsignificant increase in Gdf11cKO mice, n = 7–10 mice per group) and the number of amplifying progenitors (87% increase, n = 7–10 per group). D Quantification of neuroblasts (DCX+, NeuN−) and immature neurons (DCX+, NeuN+), as measured by the proportion of DCX+ cells that colabeled with or without NeuN+ cells per DG mm2 (% decrease in Gdf11cKO mice, n = 7–8 mice per group). E Quantification of newborn neurons, as measured by the proportion of BrdU+ cells that colabeled with NeuN+ cells per DG mm2 (50% decrease in Gdf11cKO mice, n = 7–8 mice per group). See methods for details on cell classification scheme used. All statistics were calculated using two-tailed t-test.*p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01Back to article page