Figure 3.

Intermittent fasting (IF) enhances cell proliferation and survival in the dentate gyrus of intact mice, and attenuates pathological increases after stroke. (A) To facilitate anatomical visualization of both the hippocampus and subventricular zone, transverse sections were used for peroxidase labeling. (B) Graph shows stereological estimates of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU)-labeled cell numbers in the indicated hemispheres for each treatment group. Asterisk (*) indicates statistical significance following 2 × 2 analysis of variance. (C) Stereological estimates of Ki67-labeled cell number in each treatment condition revealed that IF promotes cell proliferation under intact conditions, and suppresses pathological increases in mice that received middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). (D) Low-power micrographs of hippocampal BrdU labeling on transverse sections of the mouse hippocampus. The boxed areas are shown in the insets, which depict clusters of BrdU-labeled cells in each condition. Arrows indicate labeled cells. Scale bar, 100 μm. (E) Low-power micrographs showing sections of mouse hippocampus stained with antibodies against the endogenous marker of cell proliferation Ki67. Boxed area for each micrograph is shown in the inset, which depicts clusters of Ki67-labeled cells in each treatment group. Arrows indicate labeled cells. Scale bar, 100 μm. AL, ad libitum.