Fig. 5

Nav1.9 knockout affects ribbon synapse density and survival of spiral ganglion neurons. Representative images of ribbon synapse immunostained with Ctbp2 (green) from WT (a) and Nav1.9^−/− mice (b). c Quantitative analysis of ribbon synapse counts per IHC from five randomly selected visual fields for each mouse. n = 7 for WT group, n = 5 for Nav1.9^−/− group. *p = 0.034 by Mann–Whitney test. Representative images of spiral ganglion neurons in Rosenthal’s canal from WT (d) and Nav1.9^−/− mice (e). f Spiral ganglion neuron counts in the basal turn, the middle turn and apical turn together in 3 midmodiolar sections for each animal. n = 5 for WT group, n = 4 for Nav1.9^−/− group. *p = 0.014 by Mann–Whitney test. Data are expressed as mean ± s.d