Fig. 1

Cuprizone treatment leads to demyelination in the corpus callosum (CC) and dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN), but not the retinogeniculate pathway, i.e., optic nerve (ON) and optic tract (OT). a, b Bar graphs depicting mRNA levels for myelin basic protein (Mbp; A) and proteolipid protein (Plp1; B) at 3 (3w) and 5 (5w) weeks of cuprizone treatment as determined by RT-qPCR analysis. n = 3: CC control and cuprizone 3w, CC and dLGN control and cuprizone 5w; n = 4: dLGN control and cuprizone 3w; n = 7: ON control and cuprizone 5w, n = 12: ON control and cuprizone 3w. c Scheme of a coronal mouse brain section showing OT and dLGN. The square marks the area shown in D. d Representative confocal images of MBP immunostained mouse brain sections at 5 weeks of cuprizone treatment (right panel) or under control conditions (left panel). Scale bar: 100 μm. e Bar graph depicting the density of MBP immunostaining over the area of the OT and dLGN. Two fields per slice and two slices per animal (n = 3: OT and dLGN control; n = 4: OT and dLGN cuprizone) were analyzed. f SBFSEM images and 3D reconstruction of a myelinated terminal branch of a retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axon within the mouse dLGN under control conditions. An RGC axon with three presynaptic boutons is pseudocolored in magenta; the last internode of myelin ensheathing this axon is pseudocolored in green. F′ shows a high magnification, unlabeled image of this axon and myelin. F″ shows a 3D reconstruction of the terminal branch of this axon and its last myelin internode. Scale bar: 1.3 μm. All bar graphs depict means ± SEMs: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, not significant (ns) p ≥ 0.05 (one-sample t test; compared to set control value = 1)