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. 2012 Feb 1;32(5):1757–1770. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3282-11.2012

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Axotomy induces the trophic requirement for endogenous BDNF. a, Ex vivo axotomy model. Left, Representative fluorescent picture of a lesioned slice stained immunohistochemically for NeuN. Schematic drawing: CA3 neurons (yellow) are axotomized and CA1 neurons (blue) are denervated. Scale bar, 100 μm. Right, A representative confocal image taken from the middle of CA3 region for the stereological counting of neurons. Scale bar, 20 μm. b, Zoomed parts of confocal images from the CA3 region of the lesioned slices with and without TrkB-Fc (the scavenger of the endogenous BDNF) stained immunohistochemically for NeuN (green) and cleaved caspase-3 (red). White arrows, Cleaved caspase-3-positive neurons. Scale bar, 10 μm. c, Ratio of cleaved caspase-3-positive (=apoptotic) neuronal number to total neuronal number obtained by blind stereological counting, percentage of unlesioned control ratio value. Deprivation of endogenous BDNF with TrkB-Fc causes significant increase in apoptotic neuronal number in the lesioned, but not unlesioned, slices at 1 d after the injury. Control human Fc fragment had no effect. n = 50 slices/4880 neurons; ***p < 0.001, one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni's post hoc analyses. Error bars indicate SEM.