Figure 5.

Oxidative stress of hypoglossal motoneurons induced by H₂O₂. (a) Histological example of rhodamine 123 staining of cells in hypoglossal slices incubated for 20 min in control solution or in the presence of H₂O₂ (1 mM). After rinsing, cells were stained with rhodamine 123 (5 µM; magenta pseudocolour) to reveal intracellular oxidative processes (Gomes et al. 2005; Jiang et al. 2006) and Hoechst 33342 (cyan pseudocolour) to show cell nuclei (Sharifullina & Nistri 2006). Note that, notwithstanding the analogous number of Hoechst-positive cells, there is a larger number of rhodamine 123-positive elements following H₂O₂. (b) Histograms show the ratio of rhodamine-positive cells over Hoechst-positive cells, indicating a significant rise after H₂O₂. Data are from 11 slices in control conditions and 14 slices after H₂O₂ and are quantified with ImageJ software (*p < 0.03). (F. Nani 2008, unpublished data).