Fig. 7.

Knockdown of Notch1 in astrocytes suppresses inflammation and alleviates EAE in mice. Mice were subjected to recombinant lentiviruses, LV-ctrl or LV-Notch1-shRNA, for 7 days, followed by MOG_35-55 immunization for 23 days (n = 10 mice per group). a The clinical scores of EAE mice with LV-ctrl and LV-Notch1-shRNA. b The expressions of IL-9, GFAP, NICD, and p-STAT3 in the spinal cords were detected using western blot assay. c, d The changes of IL-6, TNF-α, and IP-10 in the spinal cords and peripheral blood of the LV-ctrl and LV-Notch1-shRNA mice were evaluated by real-time PCR and CBA assay, respectively. ^*p < 0.05, ^**p < 0.01, ^***p < 0.001 vs. PBS group; ^#p < 0.05, ^##p < 0.01, ^###p < 0.001 versus LV-ctrl group (one-way ANOVA, the two-tailed Student’s t test). Results are represented as mean ± SEM. e The infiltration of inflammatory cells in spinal cords was investigated using hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining (scale bars, 50 μm). f The medullary sheath damages from spinal cords were observed via luxol fast blue (LFB) staining (scale bars, 50 μm). Boxed areas in the upper rows are presented enlarged underneath