Figure 4

The effects of intraperitoneal injection of TIIAS on SNL-induced spinal astrocytic activation and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) expression. (A) SNL induced a remarkable astrocytic activation indicated by GFAP up-regulation in the ipsilateral spinal dorsal horn. The cell bodies of activated astrocytes appeared hypertrophied, and the processes were thickened. Intraperitoneal TIIAS administration inhibited the immunodensities of GFAP in the ipsilateral spinal dorsal horn after SNL. Scale bar for a-f, 100 μm; scale bar (a’ and c’), 20 μm. (B) In accordance with the immunofluorescence results, the Western blot analysis of GFAP showed that SNL-induced GFAP up-regulation was suppressed by intraperitoneal administration of TIIAS in a dose-dependent manner. (C) Statistical analysis of the GFAP expressions after different treatments. Asterisk or number sign each indicates statistically significant difference with P < 0.05 between groups, n = 4 for each group. SNL, spinal nerve ligation; TIIAS, tanshinone IIA sulfonate; Veh, vehicle; GFAP, glial fibrillary acidic protein.