Fig. 3. Newborn Ret-/- mice display deficits in the thoracic and lumbar sympathetic chain and prevertebral sympathetic ganglia. (A-J) Whole mount TH staining of the mouse body. (A,B) The STG (arrowheads) is small, and displays a defective axonal projection pattern in Ret-/- mice. Note the projection of the vertebral nerve (white arrows) is attenuated in Ret-/- mice. Black arrow indicates the SCG, which is located abnormally close to the STG. (C-F) Individual chain ganglia (black arrows) are small or missing (white arrow in D) at both thoracic (C,D) and lumbar (E,F) levels in Ret-/- mice. (G,H) Prevertebral sympathetic ganglion complex. The celiac superior mesenteric ganglion complex (yellow arrows) surrounding the exit of superior mesenteric artery (dotted circle) is dramatically reduced in size, whereas the aortico-renal ganglion (white arrowhead) is abnormally large in Ret-/- mice. (I,J) Sympathetic innervation along the branch of superior mesenteric artery is severely depleted in Ret-/- mice. Ad, adrenal gland. Scale bar: 900 µm in A,B; 600 µm in C,D; 550 µm in E-H; 100 µm in I,J.
