Fig. 3

Masitinib treatment reduced the number of aberrant glial cells in the degenerating spinal cord. a Aberrant glial cells expressing GFAP (green) and S100β (red) in the ventral horn of the spinal cord. Dotted white lines mark the border between white and grey matter in the upper images and outline motor neurons in high magnification panels. In the vehicle-treated rats aberrant glial cells (white arrows) surround motor neurons as compared with asymptomatic (Tg Asympt) where glial cells express low S100β. Masitinib (30 mg/kg/day) prevented the appearance of aberrant glial cells in the degenerating spinal cord after 20 days treatment. The scheme represents the level of spinal cord segments and Rexed laminae VII and IX where aberrant glial cells were counted (scale bars 50 μm in low magnification and 10 μm in high magnification). b Spinal cord culture from masitinib-treated rats compared with vehicle-treated rats. Relatively few cells were obtained from the degenerating spinal cord after masitinib treatment when compared with vehicle-treated animals (scale bar 15 μm). All data are expressed as mean ± SEM *p < 0.01