Figure 4.

HE administration at 60 and 120 mg/kg reduced the number of cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2)-expressing cells in the hippocampus after pilocarpine-induced SE. (A) Representative photomicrographs showing immunohistochemistry to COX2 in sham, vehicle (Veh)-, 60 mg/kg HE- (HE60), 120 mg/kg HE- (HE120), and 300 mg/kg HE-treated groups (HE300). Scale bar: 100 μm. (B) A magnified photomicrograph showing COX2-expressing cells in the region marked as a rectangle in Veh-treated group. Arrows indicate various COX2-expressing cells in the hippocampus. Scale bar: 20 μm. (C) A drawing of the hippocampus indicating the region for the quantitative analysis of COX2 expression (shown in red). (D) A graph showing the number of COX2-expressing cells in the hippocampus. Note that SE induced marked upregulation of COX2-expressing cells shown in Veh-treated group. HE administration at 60 and 120 mg/kg led to significantly fewer COX2-positive cells in the hippocampus than the Veh-treated group, whereas 300 mg/kg HE treatment resulted in similar COX2 activation compared to the Veh-treated group. Data are shown as mean ± SEM. n = 7 (sham), n = 9 (Veh), n = 8 (HE60), n = 7 (HE120), n = 6 (HE300). * p < 0.05; one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post-hoc test.