Fig. 5

Altered expression of inflammatory mediators at P1 and P4 in IUGR newborn brains. a Heat map of inflammatory profiler array at P1 (first column) and P4 (second column) demonstrating altered expression of pro- and anti-inflammatory mediators in the cortex relative to age-matched controls. IUGR demonstrated an increase in the number of cytokines (b) and chemokines (c) that are up-regulated from P1 to P4. Interleukins and receptors displayed a general down-regulation of expression levels from P1 to P4 in IUGR brains. Expression of well-characterised proinflammatory (e) and anti-inflammatory (f) mediators at P1 and P4 relative to age-matched controls. IUGR demonstrated high expression of IL-1β (g), IL-18 (h) and TNF-α (i), which was co-localised to neurons (NeuN) and astrocytes (GFAP; arrow heads in b of g, h). Low expression of these proinflammatory mediators was noted in NG brains. j Low expression of IL-4 was observed in IUGR brains, in contrast to the high neuronal expression observed in NG. k IUGR displayed NF-kB staining in neurons and microglia as indicated by arrow heads. High expression was observed in microglial processes that were in close proximity to neurons expressing NF-kB (arrow). For (g–k) scale bar = 50 μm, for high magnification images (a, b) scale bar = 20 μm