Figure 5.

IL-1β does not appear to be required in demyelination, astrogliosis, microglial infiltration, and mature oligodendrocyte depletion. a, IL-1β^−/− mice exhibit no difference in demyelination. Each circle represents the averaged observed LFB score from three readers for one mouse. Demyelination was quantitated by LFB-PAS staining. IL-1β^−/− mice (open circles) show no difference in demyelination compared with WT controls (filled circles) (p = 0.07 at 3 weeks, p = 0.55 at 4 weeks). b, IL-1β^−/− mice (white bars) exhibit no difference in mature oligodendrocyte number compared with age-matched WT controls (black bars) (p = 0.29 at 3 weeks, p = 0.16 at 4 weeks). Mature oligodendrocytes were measured by the GSTπ⁺ stain at the corpus callosum. c, IL-1β^−/− mice (white bars) exhibit no difference in microglial infiltration compared with age-matched WT controls (black bars) (p = 0.56 at 3 weeks, p = 0.15 at 4 weeks). Microglia were measured by RCA⁺ staining at the corpus callosum after 3 and 4 weeks of cuprizone treatment. d, IL-1β^−/− mice (white bars) exhibit no difference in astrogliosis when compared with age-matched WT controls (black bars) (p = 0.80 at 3 weeks, p = 0.26 at 4 weeks). Astrocytes were measured by the GFAP⁺ stain at the corpus callosum after 3 and 4 weeks of cuprizone treatment. GFAP was used to detect astrocyte accumulation in the corpus callosum. RCA⁺ or GFAP⁺ cells with an observable DAPI-stained nucleus were counted blindly twice. Cell counts for b–d are averages of between 6 and 10 mice per time point. Error bars indicate SEM.