FIGURE 2.

Concurrent expression of microglia and astrocytic markers in AbA cells. (A) Representative image of GFAP (red), Iba1 (green), and CD163 (green) in lumbar spinal cord sections from transgenic asymptomatic (Tg-asymp) and symptomatic (Tg-sympt) SOD1^G93A rats. Dotted lines indicate motor neuron cells bodies, which artifactually stained for CD163. Note that microglia and astrocytes in asymptomatic rat expressed GFAP and Iba1 in well-segregated cell populations. In comparison, most of the Iba1⁺ and CD163⁺ cells also expressed GFAP in symptomatic animals (arrows). (B) Quantification of cells expressing Iba1/GFAP and CD163/GFAP in the lumbar spinal cord. The counting was performed in 10 histological sections per animal. Two different rats were used for each condition. Data are shown as mean ± SD; *P < 0.05. (C) Representative confocal immunostaining against GFAP (red) and nitrotyrosine (NO₂-Tyr, green) in the ventral horn of a symptomatic rat showing the intense nitration of Perineuronal AbA cells (arrows). Scale bars: 20 μm.