Figure 1

Deletion of IL-1R1 reduces GFAP immunoreactivity but does not alter the number of GFAP+ astrocytes after a penetrating neocortical injury. Adult wild-type mice (A and C) or age matched IL-1R1-null mice (B) received a penetrating brain injury to the somatosensory cortex. After 3 d, animals were sacrificed and processed for GFAP immunohistochemistry. Panels A and B were captured from layers 3–5 of the neocortex within the penumbra of the lesion whereas panel C depicts the contralateral hemisphere from the wt animal at 10×. Insets depict representative cells from WT or IL-1R1-null mice at 40×. Scale bar represents 50 μm. Counts of GFAP+ cells (D) were performed on photomicrographs taken in areas 240 μm away from the lesion site of brain sections from WT (n = 4) and IL-1R1-null (n = 3) animals at day 3 at 40×. The number of GFAP+ astrocytes from each picture was counted by an investigator blinded to their identity. Values represent the means ± S.E.M.