Fig. 9. Super-repressor IB- and B decoy DNA reduce the size and complexity of pyramidal dendritic arbors in cortical slice cultures. Slice cultures of the somatosensory cortex of P3/P4 neonatal mice were simultaneously bombarded with a mixture of two sets of gold particles, each carrying a different reporter (YFP or RFP) together with either an NF-B inhibitory system (super-repressor IB- plasmid or B decoy DNA) or the appropriate corresponding control (empty plasmid or scrambled B DNA, respectively). Forty-eight hours after transfection, between 40 and 50 individual neurons expressing each reporter were scanned, and the resulting Z-stack images of the dendritic trees were traced and analysed. (A,B,C) Sholl analysis, number of branching points and, total dendritic length, respectively, for neurons expressing super-repressor IB- or control plasmid. (D) Photomicrograph of representative pyramidal neurons transfected with the super-repressor IB- plasmid (arrow) or the control plasmid. (E,F,G) Sholl analysis, number of branching points and, total dendritic length, respectively, for neurons expressing B decoy DNA or control scrambled B DNA. (H) Photomicrograph of representative pyramidal neurons transfected with B decoy DNA (arrows) or the control scrambled DNA. The means, standard errors and statistical comparisons (*P<0.05, **P<0.001) are shown. Scale bars: 50 µm.