Figure 7.

Pathological manifestation of the 5xVCI mice following MEM/MSC injection. (A) T2 weighted image of a representative animal from the 5xVCI-MSC group is shown on the left. Damage to the cortex caused by the penetration of the Hamilton syringe is indicated with solid gray arrowheads. According to an H&E stain of a section equivalent to the MR image slice, a faint round developing infarct can be detected from the hippocampal fimbria (n = 2 of 5). Signs of the infarct could not be noted from the MR image. Signs of penetration into the cortex via the Hamilton syringe are indicated by solid black arrowheads. Based on IHC staining, high populations of Iba-1-positive microglia/macrophage cells (indicated in red) are visualized from the site of the developing infarct. Scale bars (left to right) = 2 mm (whole brain), 200 µm, 20 µm (IHC stain). (B) CD45 and Iba-1 markers are used to detect the presence of leukocytes and microglia/macrophage, respectively. In the damaged area of the cortex (gap in between broken white lines display the site of Hamilton syringe injection), the expression of both CD45 and Iba-1 markers is extremely low for both groups and a statistically significant difference does not exist between the MEM (n = 3) and MSC (n = 5) groups. Scale bar = 100 µm. (C) In the hippocampal fimbria (region demarcated by broken white lines), notable differences in CD45 and Iba-1 expression levels are not observed between the 2 groups. Scale bar = 100 µm. (D) Based on NeuN immunostaining (green), there is no remarkable difference in hippocampal neuronal density of the MEM and MSC groups. Scale bar = 20 µm.