Figure 5.

MP attenuates oligodendrocyte but not neuronal cell death after rat SCI. Groups of rats were subjected to sham surgery (n = 7), SCI (n = 9), treatment with MP (30 mg/kg, i.v.; n = 6) 15 min after SCI, RU486 (RU; 15 mg/kg, i.p.; n = 6) 30 min before SCI, or MP and RU486 (n = 12). Unbiased stereology was used to count cells in equally spaced transverse sections located 3.5–4.5 mm rostral and caudal to the epicenter (A), as described in Materials and Methods. Oligodendrocytes (CC-1-positive cells) (B) or neurons (NeuN-positive cells) (C) were counted 8 d after SCI and expressed as mean ± SD. Statistical tests were performed on total cell counts (rostral plus caudal) and are significantly different as indicated: *p < 0.001 for sham versus SCI; **p < 0.001 for SCI versus SCI plus MP; ^†p < 0.05 for SCI plus MP versus SCI plus MP plus RU486 (ANOVA with post hoc Tukey's test).