Figure 5.

Immunohistochemical images of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) at the lesion edge of thoracic spinal cord injury (SCI) rats.

(A, G & M) High GFAP reactivity (green) at the third ventricle was present in the normal, sham surgery and SCI groups. (P) High GFAP immunoreactivity was only found at the epicenter of the thoracic segment of the injured spinal cord. GFAP positive cells at the epicenter showed thicker processes and higher GFAP staining intensity (arrowheads). Low GFAP immunoreactivity was detected in all spinal regions of the normal (B–F) and sham surgery (H–L) groups. Low GFAP immunoreactivity was also seen in distal regions of the SCI group (N, O, Q & R). For the non-injured spinal cords, equivalent anatomical areas to the injury sites (posterior median septum and dorsal grey matter) were used instead of the lesion center and lesion edge respectively to compare GFAP reactivity in each group. Hoechst 33342 solution was used as a counterstain for nuclei (blue). Scale bars: 25 μm.