FIGURE 4.

Treatment with CNTF or C16 alleviated axonal loss in the spinal cord and cerebral cortex, as revealed by Bielschowsky staining, [(A,C,E,G,I): coronal sections of brain motor cortex; (B,D,F,H,J): traverse sections through anterior horn of lumbar spinal cord], bar = 100 μm. At week 2 post-immunization, (A,B) normal control group, (C,D) vehicle-treated EAE rats [(C) axons were undergoing gradual loss and exhibiting deformed and ovoid formation, the neurons have lost dendrite and axons when compared with the normal neurons in (A,B)], (E,F) CNTF-treated EAE rats, (G,H) C16-treated EAE rats, and (I,J) C16+CNTF-treated rats. More axons were shown in these groups. (K,L) Treatment with CNTF or C16 prevented axon loss. ^aP < 0.05 versus the normal control; ^bP < 0.05 versus vehicle-treated EAE rats; ^cP < 0.05 versus CNTF-treated EAE rats; ^dP < 0.05 versus C16-treated EAE rats.