The mice were killed by decapitation under tribromoethanol

anesthesia (125–250 mg/kg body weight). All animal care and treatment procedures were approved by the Animal Resource Committee of the School of Medicine, Keio University. The HEK293 cells expressing Flag-tagged NRX were incubated with HA-Cbln1 (2 μg/mL) or Fc fusion proteins (2 μg/mL) [i.e. NL1(−)-Fc or LRRTM2 fused to the Fc fragment (LRRTM2-Fc)] for 4 h and reacted with anti-HA antibody or Alexa 546-conjugated Gefitinib cost anti-human IgG (1 : 2000; Invitrogen) without permeabilization to selectively stain proteins on the cell surface. For immunoblot analyses, cells treated with HA-Cbln1 for 4 h were washed four times with ice-cold phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and solubilized in a buffer (50 mm Tris–HCl, pH 8.0, 50 mm NaCl, 20 mm EDTA, 1% Nonidet P-40) containing 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate. The cell lysate was subjected to immunoblot analyses using anti-HA antibody. HEK293 cells expressing GFP-NL1(−) were 3-MA price incubated with NRX1β(S4+ or S4−)-Fc (5 μg/mL) for 4 h in the presence or absence of HA-Cbln1 (40 μg/mL). Alternatively, HEK293 cells expressing NRX1β(S4+ or S4−) were incubated with NL1(−)-Fc (2 μg/mL) for 4 h in the presence or absence of HA-Cbln1 or CS-Cbln1. Cells were then incubated with Alexa 546-conjugated anti-human IgG without permeabilization. Cells in dissociated cultures

were fixed using PBS containing 4% paraformaldehyde for Epothilone B (EPO906, Patupilone) 20 min on ice,

followed by 100% methanol at −20 °C for 10 min for immunostaining synaptic markers (synapsin I or synaptophysin). After permeabilization with 0.4% Triton X-100 in PBS containing 2% bovine serum albumin and 2% normal goat serum for 1 h at room temperature (22 °C), cells were treated with primary antibodies (see below) and subsequently treated with secondary antibodies that were conjugated with Alexa 405, 488 or 546 (1 : 2000; Invitrogen). Fluorescence images were captured using a CCD camera attached to a fluorescence or confocal microscope. To quantify the accumulation of each synaptic marker on transfected HEK293 cells or on HA-Cbln1 beads, or to quantify the intensity of NRX1β(S4+ or S4−), NL1(−), LRRTM2-Fc or HA-Cbln1 bound on transfected HEK293 cells, images were randomly captured in eight or more fields (each field corresponds to 450 × 600 μm containing at least five transfected HEK293 cells) using fixed gains and exposures for each fluorescent channel. The images were analyzed using IP-lab software (version 3.61). GFP- or Flag-immunopositive cell areas or bead areas were selected using macro auto-segmentation. The intensity of immunoreactivity within the segmented area was averaged and background immunoreactivity within the nonsegmented area was subtracted. Cultured hippocampal neurons were incubated with HA-Cbln1-coated beads from 13 to 17 DIV.