Figure 9. p38 MAPK knockout attenuated astrogliosis induced by permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion in mice.
A. Depicts are representative GFAP immunohistochemistry images demonstrated that conditional knockout p38 in astrocyte attenuates astrogliosis at 4 days after stroke. B. Quantitative analysis of GFAP positive astrocyte number demonstrated that GFAP/p38 knockout mice have significant fewer astrocytes in the peri-infarct region compared to wild type controls at day 4 after ischemic stroke (*** p<0.001 vs. wild type). C. Quantitative morphometric analysis of GFAP positive astrocytes indicated that GFAP/p38 knockout mice have significantly smaller astrocytes in the peri-infarct region compared to wild type littermates at day 4 after ischemic stroke (*** p<0.001 vs. wild type). D. Depicts are representative Western blots of GFAP, p38 and actin from non-ischemic and ischemic cortex of wild type littermates and GFAP/p38 knockout mice. E. Quantitative analysis of GFAP Western blots demonstrated that GFAP/p38 knockout mice have significantly lower GFAP expression in both ischemic and non-ischemic hemisphere compared to wild type littermates (* p<0.05 vs. wild type non ischemic hemisphere. # p <0.05 vs. wild type ischemic hemisphere).