Fig. 8

Basolateral amygdala spine density and morphology in Cre/ROCK2^fl/fl mice. a Schematic representation of iontophoretic injection sites in the basolateral amygdala (BLA). b Representative maximum intensity projections of deconvolved confocal z-stacks of Lucifer yellow-filled dendrites in basolateral amygdala are shown (left) for ROCK2^fl/fl and Cre/ROCK2^fl/fl mice at 8–9 months of age. 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. Cumulative mean c spine density and d densities of thin, stubby, and mushroom spines, e spine length, and f head diameter of Cre/ROCK2^fl/fl mice were similar compared to ROCK2^fl/fl mice. There were no differences in g mean spine volume and h spine volume among spine subclasses. N = 4 ROCK2^fl/fl mice (1 M, 3 F) and 6 Cre/ROCK2^fl/fl (4 M, 2 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. R2^fl/fl, ROCK2^fl/fl; Cre/R2^fl/fl, Cre/ROCK2^fl/fl