Fig. 2

Assessment of astrogliosis and clasmatodendrosis in the corpus callosum (CC). a(A–F) Representative images of GFAP-stained corpus callosum (CC) in each group. a(A) Sham-std; a(B) Sham-3 h; a(C) Sham-full; a(D) BCAS-std; a(E) BCAS-3 h; a(F) BCAS-full. Scale bar represents 25 μm. a(A–C) Arrow heads indicate normal astrocytes. a(D–F) Arrows indicate clasmatodendrocytes. b–c, Histograms showing GFAP-positively stained astrocytes per area of CC (% GFAP-stained area) (b) as well as numerical density of GFAP-positive astrocytes in the entire CC (c). BCAS-3 h showed decreased GFAP-stained area and decreased numerical density of GFAP-positive astrocytes in the entire CC compared with BCAS-std (**P < 0.01). BCAS-full showed decreased GFAP-stained area in the entire CC compared with BCAS-std (**P < 0.01) (b, c). BCAS-3 h also showed decreased numerical density of GFAP-positive astrocytes in the entire CC compared with BCAS-full (**P < 0.01) (c). d, e Histograms showing numerical density of GFAP-positive clasmatodendrocytes (damaged astrocytes) in the entire CC (d) and percentage of clasmatodendrocytes per total number of GFAP-positive astrocytes in the entire CC (e). BCAS-3 h and BCAS-full showed reduced numerical density of GFAP-positive clasmatodendrocytes in the entire CC and % of clasmatodendrocytes per all GFAP-positive astrocytes compared with BCAS-std (**P < 0.01) (d and e). BCAS-3 h also showed reduced numerical density of GFAP-positive clasmatodendrocytes in the entire CC compared with BCAS-full (*P < 0.05) (d) and % of clasmatodendrocytes per all GFAP-positive astrocytes compared with BCAS-std (**P < 0.01) (e). f, g Histograms showing negative correlation between numerical density of clasmatodendrocytes and CC volume (f) as well as correlation between % of clasmatodendrocytes and CC volume (g) in the CC of BCAS cohort. Pearson’s correlation analysis revealed that degree of clasmatodendrosis in the CC of BCAS cohort exhibited strong negative correlation with CC atrophy (r = 0.615, P < 0.01, between numerical density of clasmatodendrocytes and CC volume, (f); r = 0.583, P < 0.01, between % of clasmatodendrocytes in the CC and CC volume, (g)). Sham-std, n = 11; Sham-3 h, n = 11; Sham-full, n = 11; BCAS-std, n = 13, BCAS-3 h, n = 10; BCAS-full, n = 12