Fig. 9. Depletion of membrane cholesterol alters Kv2.1 cluster size. Cells were cholesterol depleted by incubation with 2% 2-hydroxypropyl-ß-cyclodextrin for 1.5 hours at 37°C, then imaged within 2 hours (see Materials and Methods). Cluster size was determined by confocal imaging of the basal surface of expressing cells and measurement of six randomly selected puncta from each cell. The average cluster size for control cells (A) was 1.6±0.2 µm² (n=102) and 4.4±0.6 µm² (n=132)* (*=P<0.001) following cholesterol depletion (B). Note that only discrete aggregates were measured as opposed to the large plaques in B, therefore the noted size increase is probably an underestimate. Bars, 5 µm.