Fig. 4
Sodium butyrate increased the amount of reactive astrocytes in the rat ipsilateral hemisphere after neonatal hypoxia-ischemia. Seven-day-old rats (PND7) were subjected to hypoxia-ischemia followed by 6 days of recovery. SB or vehicle was administered directly after the onset of HI and for 5 consecutive days. Brain sections were stained for GFAP immunoreactivity (red). a Confocal photomicrographs show immunohistochemical reaction in the frontal cortex of contralateral (control) and ipsilateral (injured) hemispheres with or without SB treatment. Note the increased amount of GFAP-positive cells in injured side 6 days after hypoxia-ischemia. SB administration resulted in a significant elevation in the GFAP staining intensity in the ipsilateral hemisphere in comparison to vehicle-treated animals. Lower panel represents magnification of the upper photomicrographs. Scale bar 100 μm. b Graph shows the GFAP-associated fluorescent signal quantified in the frontal cortex (1.44 mm2 area). The values represent means ± SD of five animals per experimental group. The one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni test indicate significant differences in GFAP fluorescence intensity between the investigated groups: ***p < 0.001. IPSI ipsilateral, CONTRA contralateral