Brain sections of wild-type and Hx−/− mice were
immunoreacted to discriminate between OPCs and mature OLs and OPCs and
OLs counted as reported in Materials and
Methods. A) Quantification of
PDGFRα-positive cells demonstrated similar numbers of OPCs in both
cerebral cortex and corpus callosum in Hx−/− and
wild-type mice at P10. On the contrary, the number of CC1-positive,
GFAP-negative mature OLs in Hx−/− mice was
strongly reduced compared to wild-type animals at P10 and P20. Data
represent mean ± SEM, n = 3 mice for each
genotype. ** = P<0.01, ***
= P<0.001. B) Maps, obtained with
Neurolucida/Neuroexplorer, of brain sections of PDGFRα- (left) and
CC1- (right) positive cells, respectively, in
Hx−/− and wild-type mice at P10. Red
= OPCs, blue = mature OLs.
Note the reduced number of mature OLs in the supragranular layer of
cortex in Hx−/− mice. C) Representative pictures
of CC1/GFAP double staining for CC1 (brown) and GFAP (grey) in brain
sections of a wild-type and a Hx−/− mouse. The
latter shows a strong reduction in the number of CC1 positive cells in
the cortex (arrows) and in corpus callosum, CC, (arrow-heads) compared
to wild-type animal. Bar = 50 µm.