Figure 1

Time course of microglia and astrocyte activation in cortex after controlled cortical impact. (A) Diagram of coronal rat brain section showing relationship of lesion cavity (red) to regions photographed (black squares). (B) Confocal fluorescence images of CD11b immunoreactivity (red) in peri-lesion cortex at designated time points after TBI. Panel '7d mag' is a magnified view showing amoeboid morphology of the activated microglia (arrows). (C) Quantification of microglial activation. (D) Astrocytes are immunostained for GFAP (green), and staining is quantified in (E). Scale bars are 20 μm. n = 3 at each time point; * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01 vs. sham.