Fig 1: Prion infection and replication during differentiation impairs neural differentiation.Monolayer NSC derived from hippocampi and lateral ventricles were infected at the time of differentiation induction (bFGF and EGF removal) with ME7 or non infected brain homogenates as control. They were stained with anti-nestin and anti-DCX antibody 10 days after differentiation. They were also stained with anti-β-tubulin class III and anti-GFAP antibody after 10 days of differentiation. The percentage of βIII-tubulin positive cells as well as DCX positive cells were calculated with the ImageJ software. The bar graphics show higher percentages of DCX positive cells (A) as well as βIII-tubulin positive cells (B) in non-infected cells which are statistically different from percentages obtained with ME7 infected cells (p<0.0001Mann-Whitney Test). Data represent means +/− SEM from one experiment performed in triplicate. Similar results were obtained in the three independent experiments.