Figure 2.

Distribution of double-immunostained c-Fos nuclei in cells identified with markers of pyramidal cells and interneurons in the stimulated contralateral barrel cortex. A, Distribution of c-Fos-positive COX-2 pyramidal cells in superficial layers of the contralateral somatosensory cortex. B, Higher magnification of c-Fos-positive COX-2 pyramidal cells (black arrows) in layers II/III of the activated barrel cortex. Several COX-2 pyramidal cells are not double stained for c-Fos (open arrow). C, COX-1 immunoreactivity was limited to microglial cells that did not exhibit c-Fos-stained nuclei (open arrows). Among the subsets of interneurons that stained positively for c-Fos (black arrows) were those that colocalized VIP (D) and ChAT (E), but not SOM or PV (open arrows in F or G). H, Quantitative analysis of specifically labeled c-Fos-positive COX-2 pyramidal cells and subgroups of GABA interneurons in layers II–IV of the contralateral barrel cortex. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, differences between ipsilateral and contralateral sides (paired Student's t test). Scale bars: A, 150 μm; B–G, 20 μm; insets, 12 μm.