Figure 2.

Albumin uptake in hippocampal astrocytes and neurons after SE. (a) 8 hours after SE, endogenous albumin as visualized by immunostainings with antirat albumin (green) is observed in the neuropil indicating breakdown of the BBB. Note that albumin is preferentially taken up by GFAP-positive (red) astrocytes. (b) 48 hours after SE, endogenous albumin is also transported into the cytoplasm of GFAP-negative, morphologically identified neurons. (c) Pyramidal cell layer neurons of the CA1 region of the rat hippocampus (anti-NeuN, red) accumulate FITC-labeled exogenous BSA (green) 48 h after pilocarpine-induced SE, whereas neurons of animals injected with saline do so very sparsely (d). Note the marked neuronal cell loss after SE.