Figure 10. CD8⁺ T cells, but not infected astrocytes display caspase-3 activation following immunization.

Figure 10 illustrates the striatum from rats injected intracerebrally with Ad-TK and systemically immunized against adenovirus, and immunolabeled to detect potential apoptosis of infected cells. Tissue sections were labeled with antibodies that recognize activated caspase-3 (green), the T cell markers TCR or CD8 (red), the astrocyte marker GFAP (magenta), and DAPI (blue). Numerous GFAP-immunolabeled astrocytes (yellow arrows) and TCR+ or CD8⁺ T cells (white arrows) were examined; only T cells showed caspase-3 activation (white arrows). Scale bar (a–h; shown in h) = 10 μm; scale bar (i–l; shown in l) = 20 μm.