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. 2018 Jul 30;8(15):4181–4198. doi: 10.7150/thno.25707

Figure 4.

Figure 4

FFA inhibits blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB) disruption and the expression of MMP-2/MMP-9 after SCI. To evaluate BSCB permeability, 0.15 mL of 2% Evans blue dye was intravenously injected via the tail at 1 d and 3 d after SCI. (A) Representative whole spinal cords showing Evan's Blue dye extravasation into the spinal cord at 1 d and 3 d. (B) Representative confocal images showing Evan's Blue extravasation at a position 1 mm caudal to the lesion epicenter at 1 d and 3 d after SCI. The green color represents the neurons or fibers labeled with GFP, and the red color represents the Evan's Blue dye extravasation. Scale bar = 500 μm. (C) Quantitative analyses of the fluorescence intensity of Evan's Blue. (D) Western blots showing MMP-2 and MMP-9 protein levels in tissues obtained at 1 d after SCI. β-actin was used as the control. (E) Densitometric analysis of MMP-2 protein expression. (F) Densitometric analysis of MMP-9 protein expression. (G) Gelatin zymography showing the activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9 at 1 d after SCI. (H) Densitometric analysis of the gelatin zymography. The error bars represent the SD. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, and ***p<0.001 by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc analysis.