Fig. 5

SLCP treatment partially preserved dendritic arborization and dendritic spine number in hippocampus of 5xFAD mice. After 2 months of treatment with SLCP (100 mg/kg), the brains of the 6- and 12-month-old 5xFAD and age-matched control mice were processed using Golgi-Cox stain for 2 weeks. Coronal sections (120 μm) were stained with 75% ammonium solution and 1% sodium thiosulphate. CA1 and CA3 neurons and dendritic spines from apical and basal branches (primary, secondary, and tertiary) were imaged using 40x and  100x objectives, respectively (Olympus). a, f Representative images of CA1 and CA3 pyramidal neurons showed a decreased number of apical and basal branches in vehicle-treated 5xFAD mice in comparison to WT and SLCP-treated mice. b, d Representative dendritic spine images from apical and basal branches. c, e Morphometric data revealed that the number of dendritic spines in CA1 neurons were significantly decreased in vehicle-treated 5xFAD mice in comparison to WT and SLCP-treated mice. g, i Representative dendritic spine images from CA3 apical and basal branches, respectively. h, j Morphometric analyses showed that the number of dendritic spines were significantly decreased in vehicle-treated 5xFAD mice in comparison to their WT counterparts, and to SLCP-treated 5xFAD mice. Scale bar = 100 μm and is applicable to all images. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 in comparison to WT + vehicle, 5xFAD + SLCP, and WT + SLCP