Figure 5

Cellular phenotypes showing lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced NF-IL6-IR in the rat pituitary 8 h after stimulation. NF-IL6-IR (red) was co-localized with specific cell marker proteins (green) after LPS (100 μg/kg i.p.) or PBS stimulation. (A-L) LPS-induced NF-IL6-IR occurred in corticotrope cells (ACTH, B), pituicytes (GFAP, D), endothelial cells (VWF, F), neuronal nitric oxide synthase-expressing neurons (nNOS, H), perivascular macrophages (CD163, J), and activated macrophages (CD68, L) in the rat pituitary. PBS-treated controls also exhibited NF-IL6-IR in pituicytes (C), nNOS-expressing neurons (G), perivascular macrophages (I), and activated macrophages (K) to a certain extent. Please note that representative microphotographs depict only very few NF-IL6-IR cells in the intermediate lobe (IL), including endothelial cells (b). Insets (a-c) show high magnifications of the PL, IL, and AL, respectively. Cell nuclei were labeled with DAPI (blue). Brightness, contrast, and color balance were adjusted for better representation of the actual data. The scale bars in A and C represent 100 μm (applies to A-L) and 10 μm in all insets (applies to a-c). AL, anterior lobe; IL, intermediate lobe; PL, posterior lobe.