FIGURE 2.

Identification of neurons in the sciatic nerves of adult rats. (A) Sciatic nerve infection model. hSYN-promoter GFP AAV2/9 virus was injected into the rat sciatic nerves for 2 weeks. n = 12. (B) Neuronal cells marked by GFP in vivo. Cells expressing GFP (green) in the sciatic nerves of adult rats. n = 6 (sciatic nerve with GFP marked neuronal cells). Scale bar, 200 μm. (C) The quantification of GFP⁺ cell number in sciatic nerves of virus infected rats. hSYN-promoter GFP AAV 2/9 virus was injected into the sciatic nerves. The circle points represented the cell number of GFP⁺ cells in the virus-infected sciatic nerve (n = 6 of 12 which contain the GFP⁺ cells). (D) Neurons labeled by AAV2/9 virus in sciatic nerves of adult rats in vivo. Two weeks after injection of hSYN-promoter GFP AAV2/9 virus, immunofluorescence staining for NeuN (red) and DAPI (gray) in GFP (green)-labeled cells in the sciatic nerves. n = 18 (total sciatic nerves with GFP⁺ neuronal cells), n = 3 (sciatic nerves with NeuN marked GFP⁺ neuronal cells). Scale bar, 50 μm. (E) The quantification of NeuN⁺ cells number in the sciatic nerve of virus injected rats. The sciatic nerves of those rats are infected by hSYN-promoter GFP AAV2/9 virus (n = 18). The triangular points represent the cell number of NeuN⁺ cells in a sciatic nerve with GFP⁺ cells (n = 3). The white arrow points to the positive cells.