Figure 1

Effects of FGF-2 and BDNF on hippocampal GFAP-positive cells (putative astrocytes). (A-C) Time course of alterations in GFAP expression, expressed as percent of GFAP-positive pixels in naïve rats (open bars), pilocarpine rats inoculated with the control vector (pilo - control vector, gray bars) or with the vector expressing FGF-2 and BDNF (pilo - FGF2-BDNF, solid bars) in the right, ipsilateral to inoculation (I) and in the left, contralateral (C) hippocampus. Analysis has been performed 4 (A), 11 (B) and 25 days (C) after inoculation (DAI), i.e. 7, 14 and 28 days after pilocarpine SE. Data are presented as mean ± s.e.m. for 6 animals per group. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 versus naïve; ^●P < 0.05, ^●●P < 0.01 versus pilo-control vector. One-way ANOVA and post-hoc Newman-Keuls test. (D-F) Representative sections showing GFAP immunohistochemistry in the CA1 region of naïve rats (D), of pilocarpine rats killed 11 days after control vector injection (E) and of pilocarpine rats 11 days after FGF2-BDNF vector injection (F). The pattern of changes observed in CA1 was identical for the entire hippocampus. Horizontal bar = 50 μm.