Figure 10.
Dexamethasone (Dex) treatment reduces the Ym2 level and defers OE regeneration. A, Scheme showed Dex injection in mice with methimazole-induced OE lesion. B, Quantitative PCR analysis on Dex-induced alteration in the Ym2-, TNF-α-, and IL-1β-mRNA levels in lesioned OE (n = 3 independent experiments). C–J, Confocal images of immunostaining against Ym2, OMP, PGP9.5, Sox2, and ICAM1 in the OE of mice with saline or Dex injection on day 14 and day 31 postlesion. K, Analysis on Ym2 intensity in lesioned OE on day 14 with saline or Dex administration (n = 9 sections from three mice). L, M, Statistical analysis of PGP9.5+, OMP+, or apical Sox2+ cells in the OE of saline- or Dex-injected mice on day 14 (PGP9.5+: n = 6 sections; OMP+: n = 6 and 12 sections in Dex-treated and saline-treated groups) and day 31 postlesion (Sox2+: n = 6 sections; OMP+: n = 5 sections). Statistical significance was determined by one-way ANOVA (B), by unpaired Student's t test (K), and by two-way ANOVA (L, M). B: Ym2: F(4,10) = 74.57, p < 0.0001; TNF-α: F(4,10) = 16.00, p = 0.0004; IL-1β: F(4,10) = 14.69, p = 0.0003; K: *p = 0.0456 (t(16) = 2.18); L: F(1,26) = 14.95, p = 0.0007; M: F(1,18) = 4.609, p = 0.0457. Asterisks were determined by Dunnett's multiple-comparisons test (B) and by Sidak's multiple-comparisons test (L, M). Scale bars, 10 µm.