Figure 5.

Intra-vHipp administration of chondroitinase ABC (b,d and f), but not penicillinase (a,c and e), results in a significant decrease in lectin staining to perineuronal nets throughout the vHipp. Photomicrographs demonstrate the extent of perineuronal net degradation, indicated by the red circle in (b). Chondroitinase ABC resulted in a region specific reduction of perineuronal nets observed in the vHipp (dashed box in a and b—magnified in c and d) but not in more dorsal regions of the cortex (solid box in a and b—magnified in e and f). Penicillinase-treated rats display numerous perineuronal nets (indicated by arrows) throughout both the vHipp (c) and cortex (e).