Figure 4: Co-existence of dopaminergic and bNOS-positive amacrine cells.
From: Neurite arborization and mosaic spacing in the mouse retina require DSCAM
a, In wild-type retinas double-labelled for two Dscam-expressing cell populations (dopaminergic amacrine and bNOS-positive), the cell bodies and processes appear independent. b, This was confirmed by cross-DRP analyses comparing dopaminergic to bNOS-positive cells, which indicated no difference from average density (random spacing). c, In Dscam-/- mutant retinas, the fasciculation and cell-body-spacing defects are evident, but the spacing of cells remains independent and they do not aggregate, as indicated by cross-DRP analyses (d). In addition, the fascicles of processes also remain independent. e, Schematic depicting the independence of retinal neuron mosaic formation. Retinal neurons form organized mosaics that are independent of the spacing of other cell types. f, Schematic depicting dopaminergic amacrine and bNOS-positive neuron arborization in the wild-type and Dscam-/- retina. Wild-type dopaminergic amacrine neurons arborize in S1, whereas bNOS-positive neurons arborize in S3. In the Dscam-/- retina, the arborization of dopaminergic amacrine and bNOS-positive neurites becomes diffuse but, although neurites of both cell types fasciculate with homotypic neurites (dopaminergic amacrine with dopaminergic amacrine or bNOS-positive with bNOS-positive), they do not fasciculate with heterotypic neurites (dopaminergic amacrine with bNOS-positive). Scale bars in a and c represent 240 µm.
