Figure 6. Osteopontin positive myeloid cells accumulate in the perilesional zone in close proximity to CD44 positive cells 48 h after ischemic stroke.

(a) Overview of a representative coronal brain section 48 h post MCAO, stained for Iba1, CD44 and OPN. Grey matter ROIs (GM) are highlighted in violet, white matter ROIs (WM) in lime green, lower right inset depicts a corresponding T2 weighted MRI image from the same animal. Bar = 2 mm. (b) Representative images from GM and WM ROIs of Sham, MCAOcontra and MCAO ipsi sections, split by antigen. OPN = magenta, Iba1 = cyan, CD44 = yellow. Bar = 50 μm. (c) Cell counts within GM and WM are presented as box plots for Iba1⁺/OPN⁺ double positive cells, cell counts for Iba1⁺/CD44⁺/OPN⁺, Iba1⁺/CD44⁻/OPN⁺, Iba1⁺/CD44⁺/OPN⁻, Iba1⁺/CD44⁻/OPN⁻ are jointly shown as colored stacked bar plot. Data derived from n = 4–5 animals per group, p values derived from Kruskal-Wallis-H-Tests, followed by Dunn’s post hoc comparisons.