FIG. 5.

Quantification of number and orientation of astrocytic processes and phosphorylated microtubule associated protein 1B (MAP1B-P) positive axons in untreated (red bars), and chondroitinase ABC (ChABC)-treated (black bars) animals. (A) Schematic representation of a horizontal section of the spinal cord. The dark grey area depicts the primary injury site delimited by the outer border of the glial scar, where densities of astrocytic processes (green) and axons (red) were measured. (B) Quantification of the area of the injury site occupied by glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)- (dotted bars), and MAP1B-P-positive fibers (hatched bars) between 1 and 4 weeks post-injury. (C) Example of a three-dimensional reconstruction based on confocal images of the injury site from a ChABC-treated animal at 2 weeks post-injury, showing codistribution of MAP1B-P positive fibers (red) with GFAP-positive (green) processes. The directionality of GFAP-positive and MAP1B-P-positive structures is measured against the horizontal axis defined arbitrarily as angle 0 degrees, and differences between the angles of orientation of GFAP- and MAP1B-P positive structures are represented in (D). Note that alignment of fibers with astrocytic processes is always better in ChABC treated animals, although the difference is minimal at 2 weeks post-injury. GM, grey matter; WM, white matter. *p<0.05; **p<0,01. Bar is 45 μm. Color image is available online at www.liebertpub.com/neu