Fig. 5From: Microglia-derived IL-1β contributes to axon development disorders and synaptic deficit through p38-MAPK signal pathway in septic neonatal ratsLPS elicits excitatory synaptic deficits in the cerebral cortex. Synapses were identified by the punctate co-labeling of the excitatory synaptic proteins, synaptophysin (b, e, h, and k), and PSD-95 (a, d, g,and j) in the cerebral cortex. LPS exposure reduced the number of synaptophysin/PSD-95 puncta in the cerebral cortex at 14 and 28 days (f, l) when compared with the corresponding control (c, i). Panel (m) shows synaptophysin (38 kDa), PSD-95 (80 kDa), and β-actin (42 kDa) immunoreactive bands, respectively. Bar graph (n) shows significant decrease in the optical density of synaptophysin in the cerebral cortex at 7, 14, and 28 days following LPS injection in comparison with their matching controls. Bar graph (o) shows the optical density of PSD-95 in the cerebral cortex at 7, 14, and 28 days following LPS injection was not significantly different in comparison with their matching controls. *P < 0.05, #P > 0.05. Scale bars: a–l 50 μmBack to article page