Fig. 5

Glial activation in Balb/c and Balb/c Cr2 ^−/− mice following sciatic nerve transection. Expression of Gfap increased in the spinal cords of both Balb/c wild-type (WT) and Cr2 ^−/− mice following SNT but without strain differences (a). Quantification of GFAP immunoreactivity the dorsal spinal motor nucleus demonstrates more pronounced astrocyte activation in WT compared to Cr2 ^−/− (b–d). Expression of Mrf-1 and CD11b are strongly up regulated in both WT and Cr2 ^−/−, without significant differences between strains at the mRNA level (e–f). In contrast, quantification of Iba1 in the dorsal spinal motor nucleus demonstrates increased immunolabeling signal in Cr2 ^−/− compared to WT thus opposite to GFAP (g–j). IL ipsilateral, CL contralateral. Scale bar equals 40 μm. n = 6 + 5 RT-PCR, 8 + 8 IHC, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001. The results are represented as mean ± SEM