Fig. 5

Stereological quantification of CD11B⁺ cells in the cortex at 15 and 30 days post-injury. a ×10 magnification micrographs of CD11B staining in the cortex in the vicinity of the lesion. Upper panel shows the staining’s intensity in CX3CR1 sham WT and CX3CR1 WT-TBI at 15 and 30 days post-injury. Lower panels show the staining’s intensity in CX3CR1 sham KO and CX3CR1 KO-TBI at 15 and 30 days post-injury. b The cortical expression of CD11b⁺ cells was significantly increased in CX3CR1 KO-TBI (n = 6) mice compared to CX3CR1 WT-TBI mice (n = 5) at 15 days post-TBI (*p = 0.05). Two-way ANOVA revealed that the number of CD11b⁺ cells increased in the cortex from day 15–30 post-TBI to the same extent in CX3CR1 WT-TBI and in CX3CR1 KO-TBI mice (^±± p = 0.001). Staining in sham animals was not determined (nd). CX3CR1 sham WT (white bar), CX3CR1 sham KO (green bar), CX3CR1 WT-TBI (red bar), CX3CR1 KO-TBI (blue bar)