Figure 4

The effect of forced expression or knockdown of Bacurd2 on the morphology of GFP-labelled neurons within the IZ and CP of the E17.5 embryonic cortex. (A) The morphology of neurons within the CP and the IZ in representative brain sections electroporated with control (GFP only) vector, Bacurd2 expression vector or Bacurd2 siRNAs. Arrowheads point to round-shaped cells. (B) Within the CP, overexpression or knockdown of Bacurd2 leads to a significant increase in the proportion of round cells, and a decrease in uni/bipolar-shaped cells (N > 300 cells counted from three brains per condition; F _4,45 = 9.63; P < 0.0001, two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s post hoc test; *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001). (C) Within the IZ, overexpression of Bacurd2 leads to a significant increase in the proportion of round cells and a decrease in multipolar-shaped cells (N > 500 cells counted from three brains per condition; F _4,33 = 48.56; P < 0.0001; two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s post hoc test; *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001), but the proportion of uni/bipolar-shaped cells remains unchanged. On the other hand, treatment with Bacurd2 siRNAs leads to a significant decrease in the proportion of uni/bipolar-shaped cells and multipolar-shaped cells, with no significant difference in the proportion of round-shaped cells. Scale bar represents 20 μm.