Figure 1

Inhibition of astroglial NF-κB does not affect the number of oligodendrocyte precursor cells and mature oligodendrocytes in the naïve, murine adult spinal cord. (A) IκBα-dn transgene (TG) verification in GFAP-IκBα-dn (TG) mice. Total RNA was isolated from the spinal cord and RT-PCR performed with primers to the TG or β-actin as control. Controls for genomic DNA contamination, where the reverse transcriptase is omitted (−RT) were included as well as negative (−, water) and positive (+, genomic DNA) controls for the PCR reaction. (B) Estimation of white matter volume 6 weeks post-injury was performed on Luxol Fast Blue sections counterstained with H&E and showed increased white matter volume in IκBα-dn TG mice compared to wild-type (WT) mice. (C) Estimation of the lesion volume showed significantly decreased mean lesion volume in IκBα-dn TG mice compared to WT mice. (D) Representative Luxol-stained sections from GFAP-IκBα-dn and WT littermates. Scale bar = 350 μm. (E) Estimation of the total number of oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) using the nerve/glial antigen 2 (NG2) marker and the total number of mature oligodendrocytes using the adenomatous polyposis coli marker (CC1) showed similar numbers of OPCs and mature oligodendrocytes in naïve IκBα-dn TG and WT mice. Immunohistochemistry using the NG2 antibody showed that NG2⁺ OPCs were distributed evenly throughout the white matter in both WT and IκBα-dn mice. Representative immunohistochemistry using the CC1 antibody showed that CC1⁺ oligodendrocytes were distributed evenly throughout the white matter in both WT (left) and IκBα-dn (right) mice. Scale bar = 20 μm. N = 4 to 5 animals per group, Student’s t- test (one/two-tailed).