Heterozygous CDKL5 Knockout Female Mice Are a Valuable Animal Model for CDKL5 Disorder

Figure 7

Impaired hippocampal development in Cdkl5 +/− female mice. (a, b) Mean total dendritic length (a) and mean number of dendritic branches (b) of Golgi-stained mature granule neurons of Cdkl5 +/+ (), Cdkl5 +/− (), and Cdkl5 −/− () mice. (c) Examples of the reconstructed dendritic tree of Golgi-stained mature granule neurons of one animal from each experimental group. (d, e) Dendritic spine density (number of spines per μm; d) and percentage of immature and mature spines (e) in relation to the total number of protrusions of granule neurons of mice as in (a). (f) Examples of Golgi-stained dendritic branches of mature granule neurons of one animal from each experimental group. The black triangles indicate mature spines (mushroom- and cup-shaped spines). Scale bar: 1 μm. (g) Number of fluorescent puncta per μm² exhibiting PSD-95 immunoreactivity in the molecular layer of the dentate gyrus of Cdkl5 +/+ (), Cdkl5 +/− (), and Cdkl5 −/− () mice. (h) Confocal images of sections processed for PSD-95 immunohistochemistry of one animal from each experimental group. Scale bar: 2.5 μm. Values represent . , , and (datasets in (a–c, e–h), Fisher’s LSD test after ANOVA; datasets in (d), Dunn’s test after Kruskall-Wallis).

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