Figure 1.

Expression and distribution of galectin-3 in the parasite-infected brains. qRT-PCR analysis and IF microscopy were performed on parasite-infected and mock control mice intracranially injected with helminth parasite M. corti. A, The total RNA was extracted from the brains at 1 and 3 weeks after inoculation, and mRNA expression of galectin-3 was measured by qRT-PCR as described in Materials and Methods. The fold changes in parasite-infected brains were calculated over the levels in mock control mice using the formula 2^−(ΔΔCt). Data shown are the mean ± SEM of 3 or 4 mice per time point in two independent experiments. B, Double immunofluorescence staining was performed on brain tissue cryosections from mock (B1) or parasite-infected C57BL/6 mice (B2–B4). Nuclei (blue) were stained with DAPI. Galectin-3 was stained using an affinity purified anti-mouse Galectin-3 goat IgG followed by AlexaFluor-488-labeled (green) goat anti-rabbit IgG. Galectin-3 expression was covisualized with macrophages using an affinity purified anti-mouse F4/80 AlexaFluor-488-labeled (green) (B3) or MGL1/2⁺ cells using an affinity purified anti-mouse MGL1/2 goat IgG followed by AlexaFluor-546-labeled (red) donkey anti-goat IgG (B4). Images shown are representative of 3 independent experiments with 3 or 4 mice each. Original magnification ×20.