Fig. 3
Cre/ROCK2fl/fl mice display increased basal spine density among dorsal CA1 pyramidal neurons. a Schematic representation of iontophoretic injection sites in dorsal CA1 (dCA1) of the hippocampus. b Representative maximum intensity projections of deconvolved confocal z-stacks of Lucifer yellow-filled dendrites of dCA1 pyramidal neurons are shown for ROCK2fl/fl and Cre/ROCK2fl/fl mice (left). Corresponding three-dimensional reconstructions of the dendrites are provided (right), with the spines color-coded by spine type (blue = thin, orange = stubby, green = mushroom, yellow = filopodia). Scale bars = 6 µm. c There was no difference in overall mean spine density and d densities of thin, stubby, or mushroom spines between groups. Overall mean of e spine length and f head diameter were similar between groups. g–j Apical g spine density, h densities of thin, stubby, or mushroom spines, i spine length, and j head diameter were similar between groups. k Cre/ROCK2fl/fl mice show increased basal spine density (t(11) = 3.162, **p = 0.0091) compared to ROCK2fl/fl mice. l Basal thin spines density was increased in Cre/ROCK2fl/fl (t(11) = 2.759, *p = 0.0186) compared to ROCK2fl/fl littermate controls. m, n There was no difference in basal spine length (m) and head diameter (n) between groups. N = 5 ROCK2fl/fl mice (1 M, 4 F) and 8 Cre/ROCK2fl/fl (5 M, 3 F) mice at 8–9 months of age. Unpaired t-tests were used for all comparisons. Each point represents one mouse and the error bars indicate the standard error of the mean. R2fl/fl, ROCK2fl/fl; Cre/R2fl/fl, Cre/ROCK2fl/fl