Fig. 3

Hypercapnia reduced lesion volume and improved neuronal survival. A, B The whole brain (A) and coronal section of the injured brain (B) in the sham group, group T, group T+H, group T+H+PKCi, and group T+H+PKCαβi rats at 48-h post-FPI. a, the peri-lesion part (“penumbra”). C, D Representative images showing outlined lesion area (C) and Nissl staining (×4 (D) and ×40 (E)). Scale bars: D = 2000 μm, E = 200 μm. F Lesion volume was calculated and analyzed. G Survived neurons in the penumbra. n = 4. ^#p < 0.05 vs. sham, *p < 0.05 vs. group T, ^&p < 0.05 vs. group T+H