Figure 2.

Hippocampal atrophy occurs during EAE and testosterone treatment prevents this. A–C, Representative hippocampal sections stained with Nissl from normal (NL; A), placebo-treated EAE (PLAC + EAE; B), and testosterone-treated EAE (T + EAE; C) mice depict 4× magnification of the various hippocampal subregions: CA1 pyramidal layer (pyr), CA1 stratum oriens (so), CA1 stratum radiatum (sr), CA2/3, dentate gyrus (DG), and corpus callosum (CC). D–F, The CA1 pyramidal layer shown at 40× magnification, had significantly reduced volume in placebo-treated EAE mice (E), compared with healthy controls (D), quantification in G. With testosterone treatment during EAE (F), the CA1 pyr volume was preserved to levels similar to those in controls (D and G). H, CA1 stratum radiatum (CA1 sr) area was also significantly reduced in placebo-treated EAE mice compared with healthy controls, and this atrophy was prevented in testosterone-treated EAE mice. I, Alternatively, stratum oriens (CA1 so) area was not significantly changed with EAE or testosterone treatment of EAE, compared with healthy controls. J, CA3 area was significantly reduced in placebo-treated mice with EAE, compared with healthy controls, and preserved in testosterone-treated mice with EAE. Estimated CA1 pyr volume (mm³) and CA1 sr, CA1 so, and CA3 area (mm²) depict representative means normalized to mean area and volume of healthy controls (NL). One-way ANOVA and Newman–Keuls post hoc analysis revealed significant difference between three groups. *p = 0.05, n = 3 mice per group (5 sections per mouse). Scale bars, 20 μm.