Figure 7.

Cochlear nucleus cellular morphology is altered in mice after injection of AAV5-hGDNF. (A) An overview of brain sections (toluidine blue staining) illustrating the ventral cochlear nucleus (VCN) of treated and non-treated (control) mice. At this low magnification, no obvious changes in the treated mice are apparent. (B) At higher magnification, cells in the VCN of mice treated with AAV5-hGDNF appear swollen and misshapen compared to the control mice. Immunofluorescence images showing the glial cells stained with ionized calcium-binding adaptor 1 antibody (Iba1; a glial cells marker) in the brains of control and treated (C and D) mice. Iba1 (green) stained glial cells in the brains of treated mice exhibit a hypertrophic phenotype with larger cell bodies when compared to the brains of control mice. Arrows indicate proliferated glial cells in the treated brain.