Fig. 9. Genetic and pharmacological silencing of Na⁺ channels reduce RB cell death to the same extent. Numbers of RB somata are plotted as a function of time for wild-type (white squares), tricaine-treated (black squares), mao mutant (black circles), and mao sibling (white circles) embryos. At 36 and 54 hpf, the number of RB somata were similar for mao mutants and siblings. At 60 hpf, differences are first noted between the number of RB somata in mao sibling versus mutant embryos (*, P<0.05-0.0001). A similar 10% difference is noted between the number of RB somata in wild-type and tricaine-treated embryos (#, P<0.05-0.000001). At subsequent stages, the differences between the number of RB somata between wild-type and mao sibling embryos versus tricaine-treated and mao mutant embryos increases. For example, at 72 hpf, there are approx. three times as many RB somata in mao mutant or tricaine-treated embryos versus mao sibling or wild-type embryos. At 78 hpf, there are approx. ten times as many RB somata in mao mutant and tricaine treated embryos versus either wild-type or sibling embryos. At all stages, the effects of the mao genetic lesion and pharmacological suppression on RB cell death are similar, and the numbers of RB somata in tricaine-treated and mao mutant embryos are similar. The number of embryos examined for each data point range between 5 and 10.