Figure 1

Effect of statin exposure on motoneurons in organotypic spinal cord slices. Organotypic spinal cord slices were cultured for 3 weeks with exposure to vehicle control solution (A) or 20 μM fluvastatin (B) occurring during the last week of culture. Cultures were stained with SMI32 antibodies developed with DAB as described in the text, and spinal motoneurons are immediately apparent in panel A, control cultures. A loss of spinal motoneurons is evident following treatment with fluvastatin, shown in panel B. Bar equals 300 μ. C) Quantitative assessment of statin effects on spinal motoneurons in organotypic slice cultures. Number of spinal motoneurons per slice for treatment with vehicle control solution or fluvastatin at 2 μM, 20 μM and 200 μM, pravastatin 200 μM and simvastatin 200 μM. All treatment groups demonstrated statistically significant decreases from control, after correction for multiple comparisons.