Fig. 8

Effect of atorvastatin treatment on neuronal apoptosis after TBI. a Representative fluorescence images of TUNEL-positive neurons in the peri-contusional cortex at 72 h after TBI. Fluorescence colors: TUNEL: red, NeuN: green, and DAPI: blue. Scale bar = 200 μm. TUNEL and NeuN double stained cells indicated the apoptotic neurons, overlapped images showed that TUNEL-positive cells mainly colocalized with neurons. b Quantitative analysis of apoptotic neurons in the different groups. Few TUNEL-positive apoptotic neurons were detected in the sham groups. Apoptotic neurons in the peri-contusional cortex at 72 h post-TBI were reduced in the atorvastatin treatment group compared with those in the saline group. c The ratio of apoptotic neurons in total neurons. Compared with the TBI + saline group, administration of atorvastatin significantly decreased the apoptosis ratio. Data are presented as the mean ± SD. ***p < 0.001 versus sham group, ^## p < 0.01 and ^### P < 0.001 versus TBI + saline group. n = 6/group