Figure 2.

GFAP-immunostained dorsal CA1 hippocampal region of vanadium exposed (B,E,H), age matched control (A,D,G) and withdrawal group (C,F,I) mice. Vanadium treatments for 6, 12 and 18 months revealed Astrocytic activation identified by thickened cell body with more extended cytoplasmic processes relative to the matched controls while the withdrawal groups showed reversal effect relative to vanadium exposed groups. The number of GFAP positive cells were counted by two blinded investigators and average of N = 5 per group counts are shown per high powered field (HPF, 20×) in (D–F) respectively. The differences between groups (J–L) were evaluated for significance using analysis of variance (ANOVA; *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01). Astrocytic response decreases into old age with increasing vanadium exposure (M; 6EB vs. 18EB = *p < 0.05). Magnification: ×200, inset: ×400.