Fig. 8

Effect of ⁴He particle exposure or PLX5622 treatment on the number of morphologically distinct spines. a, b Quantification of reconstructed apical dendritic segments from the CA1 pyramidal neurons show that either exposure ⁴He particles or PLX5622 treatment did not have a significant impact on fliopodia, long-thin, or stubby spine types. Radiation exposure leads to a significant decline in the mushroom spines (*p = 0.025, 0 Gy + Con chow vs. 30 cGy + Con chow). Treatment with PLX5622 significantly improved the number of mushroom spines in the control (**p < 0.01 0 Gy + PLX5622 vs. 0 Gy + Con chow) or ⁴He-irradiated dendrites (**p < 0.01 vs. 30 cGy + PLX5622; ***p < 0.002 vs. 0 Gy + PLX5622). Data are presented as Mean ± SEM (n = 3–4/group). p values are derived from two-way ANOVA and Bonferroni’s multiple comparisons test. *p < 0.025, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.002. Dendrite (sky blue), filopodia (magenta), long-thin (blue), mushroom (green), and stubby spines (red). Scale bar, 4 μm, a