Figure 5. Fluorosamine reduces CSPG deposition following lysolecithin demyelination.

(a) Representative eriochrome cyanine-stained sections of spinal cords after lysolecithin demyelination. Red outlined box represents location of images in the subsequent panels. (b) Representative immunohistochemistry images of GFAP, versican and aggrecan show persistent versican accumulation at the lesion site that correlates with reactive astrogliosis. Aggrecan, which is found in abundance in the grey matter, presumably in perineuronal nets (observed as rings of staining), is absent in the area of lysolecithin demyelination. (c) Western blots of spinal cords 7 days after lysolecithin and fluorosamine treatment show reduced abundance of chondroitin-4-sulfate despite comparable GFAP intensity. (d) Quantifications show a decreased intensity of chondroitin-4-sulfate relative to GFAP intensity in fluorosamine compared with vehicle-treated animals. The results are presented as representative images of five animals per group (b) or as three animals per group in individual lanes (c). *P<0.05, one-way analysis of variance with Tukey's post hoc test. Error bars are mean±s.d. Scale bar, 100 μm.