Fig. 5. Nestin-Cre conditional v mutants develop seizures and motor dysfunction, and die prematurely. (A,B) Motor dysfunction in 3-week-old Nestin-Cre conditional v mutants. When lifted by their tails, control mice (A) extend and flail their limbs. Conditional v mutants (B) retract their limbs and remain immobile. The conditional v mutant in B also displayed episodic signs of seizures and associated temporary loss of consciousness (data not shown). (C,D) Hematoxylin and Eosin-stained coronal sections from cerebral cortices of three-week-old control (C) and mutant (D) brains from mice shown in A,B. Regions of cerebral microhemorrhage are present in the mutant brains (arrow in D). (E,F) Cross-sections from control (E) and mutant (F) spinal cords. Focal regions of microhemorrhage are found throughout spinal cord of conditional v mutants (arrow in F). (G,H) Pictures of 7-month-old control (G) and mutant (H) animals. The mutant displays hind-limb spasticity and abnormal posture. (I) Footprint analysis performed using 4- to 5-month-old control (left panel) and mutant (right panel) mice; hind paws painted blue and fore paws painted red. The conditional mutant drags its hindlimb (right). (J) Rotarod analyses of control and Nestin-Cre conditional v mutants as described in the Materials and methods. The times animals remained on the rod rotating at an increasing speed versus the trial number is plotted. A significant reduction (P<0.005 for all trials) in time spent on the rod is observed in mutant (n=7) versus control mice (n=9).