Figure 7

Effects of DHA on intrinsic apoptotic pathway. Staining for Bax expression was absent in the sham group (A). Twenty-four hours after SCI, spinal cord tissue from injured animals showed positive staining for Bax (B). DHA treatments significantly reduced the SCI-induced Bax (C). On the contrary, positive staining for Bcl-2 was observed in the spinal cord tissues from sham-operated mice (D) while the staining was significantly reduced in SCI mice (E). DHA treatment attenuated the loss of positive staining for Bcl-2 in the spinal cord from SCI- subjected mice (F). For Bax staining in SCI groups, see the high magnification of the images; for Bcl2 staining, see high magnification for sham and DHA groups. Moreover, an increase in Bax expression was evidenced by Western blot analysis (G). DHA treatment reduced the expression for Bax in the spinal cord ganglia). A basal level of Bcl-2 expression was detected in spinal cord from sham-operated mice (H). Twenty-four hours after SCI, Bcl-2 expression was significantly reduced in spinal cord from SCI mice (H). DHA treatments significantly reduced the SCI-induced inhibition of Bcl-2 expression (H). A representative blot of lysates obtained from each group is shown, and densitometry analysis of all animals is reported. Respective densitometry analysis of protein bands from three separated experiments is reported. Data are mean ± SEM of ten mice for each group; ***P < 0.001 vs. sham; ^### P < 0.005 vs. SCI. ND: not detectable.