Fig. 12

LIF reduces isolectin-tagged fluorescence and CD11b levels in ischemic brain tissue. a Ipsilateral tissue sections from the MCAO + LIF treatment group showed less isolectin-tagged fluorescence in the cortex and striatum than tissue from the MCAO + PBS treatment group. Furthermore, isolectin-tagged cells in the striatum displayed a ramified phenotype, while isolectin-tagged cells in the striatum showed an amoeboid phenotype after MCAO + PBS treatment. Arrows indicate representative cells. Scale bar = 100 μm. b CD11b antibodies were also used to label cells in the cortical and striatal brain tissue from representative animals. While more amoeboid CD11b + cells were found in the cortex and striatum of brains from representative PBS-treated animals, the CD11b + cells in the brains of LIF-treated animals showed a more ramified phenotype. Scale bar = 50 μm. c Western blotting was performed to show levels of CD11b in the ipsilateral and contralateral brain tissue in PBS and LIF-treated rats. There was a significant decrease in the ipsilateral CD11b levels after LIF treatment compared to PBS treatment (*p < 0.05). CD11b levels were significantly elevated in the ipsilateral hemispheres of the PBS-treated (**p < 0.01) and LIF-treated (*p < 0.05) animals compared to their contralateral counterparts. n = 5–6 animals per treatment group