Recombinant α_Vβ₃-Fc inhibits extension of dendrites in cortical neurons.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Cortical neurons, cultured for 4 and 7 days of culture <i>in vitro</i> were stained for Thy-1 (red), MAP-2 (soma/dendrite staining, blue) and Tau (axon staining, green). Arrows indicate some areas with Thy-1 staining. Asterisks label Thy-1-negative axons. (<b>B–E</b>) Neurons, cultured for 4–5 days <i>in vitro</i> were treated with supernatants containing α<b>_V</b>β<b>₃</b>-Fc fusion protein (<b>α_Vβ₃-Fc</b>), α<b>_V</b>β<b>₃</b>-Fc-depleted supernatants (<b>DS</b>), α<b>_V</b>β<b>₃</b>-Fc-depleted supernatants supplemented with TRAIL-R2-Fc (<b>TRAIL-R2-Fc</b>), or non-treated (<b>NT</b>) for 72 hours. Where indicated, 1 U/ml of PI-PLC was added prior to integrin addition (<b>D,E</b>). (<b>B,D</b>) Inverted fields of MAP-2 fluorescence images that were used to count neurons and evaluate dendrite length. (<b>C,E</b>) Quantification of two different morphological parameters performed using Neuro <i>ImageJ</i> software. <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0034295#s3" target="_blank">Results</a> shown are the mean+s.e.m. of 720 neurons from three independent experiments (<b>C</b>) or 240 neurons from two independent experiments (<b>E</b>). *<i>P</i><0.05 compared with DS condition.