The spatiotemporal relationship of PDGFR-β and two intermediate filament proteins nestin and vimentin in the lesioned striatum at days 3 and 7 after 3-NP injection. (A,B,E,F) Triple-labeling for PDGFR-β, GFAP and nestin at day 3 post-lesion showing that vascular profiles expressing PDGFR-β are positive for nestin in the lesion core (right side of the broken line), which is devoid of GFAP immunoreactivity. Note that nestin-positive cells in the peri-lesional area are astrocytes. (C,D,G,H) At 7 days, distribution of PDGFR-β in the vascular profiles overlaps well with that of nestin in the lesion core (right side of the broken line). (E–H) Higher magnification images of the boxed areas in (A–D), respectively. (I–K) Triple-labeling for nestin, Ki-67 and GFAP. Note that a pair of nestin-positive cells that appear to be daughter cells are positive for Ki-67. (L) 5-Bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU) injection protocol. (M,N) Triple-labeling for nestin, BrdU and GFAP showing that PDGFR-β/nestin double-positive cells within vascular profiles exhibit BrdU-labeled cell nuclei. The boxed area in (M) is enlarged in (N). (O–R) Triple labeling for PDGFR-β, nestin and vimentin showing that nearly all of PDGFR-β/nestin double-positive cells co-express vimentin. Cell nuclei are stained with DAPI. Scale bars = 100 μm for (A–D); 20 μm for (E–H,I,J–M); 10 μm for (N); 50 μm for (O–R).