Figure 5. Immunofluorescence staining demonstrated a mixed population of macrophages at disc hernia sites on POD 7 compared to the sham.
(a) Representative fluorescence images showed increased total, CD68+, F4/80+, and CD11b+ macrophages in dissected infiltration tissues of disc punctured mice. The disc puncture group showed significantly more total cells (b), CD68+ (c), F4/80+ (d), and CD11b+ (e) macrophages and a greater percentage of macrophage to total cells ( f, g, h). Data are presented as mean ± SEM. Cells were enumerated on 10–15 ROIs per section and 3 sections per sample (n=6 for the anterior puncture group and n=4 for the sham group). *, p<0.05, student t-test. Scale bar=50 μm.