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Fig. 3 | Journal of Neuroinflammation

Fig. 3

From: Osteopontin and its spatiotemporal relationship with glial cells in the striatum of rats treated with mitochondrial toxin 3-nitropropionic acid: possible involvement in phagocytosis

Fig. 3

Punctate OPN-immunoreactive profiles and two glial cells 3 and 7 days after 3-NP injection. a–d Triple labeling with OPN, GFAP, and Iba1 at day 3 post-lesion showing that OPN puncta are observed only in the central lesion core, but not in the periphery of the lesion core, or the peri-lesional area. The two broken lines indicate the borders of the three areas: lesion center, lesion periphery, and the peri-lesional area. The corresponding boxed areas in the lesion center and periphery in b are enlarged in c and d. Note that OPN expression is localized within the Golgi complex (arrowhead) of brain macrophages and among the brain macrophages in the lesion center, while activated microglia with clearly demarcated processes are mainly observed at the OPN-negative lesion periphery. e–h Triple labeling with OPN, GFAP, and Iba1 at day 7 post-lesion showing that OPN and Iba1 have overlapping regional distribution in the lesion core, despite preferentially localized OPN puncta in the central lesion core. The boxed areas in the lesion center and lesion periphery are enlarged in g and h. Note that OPN puncta are detectable at the lesion periphery immediately adjacent to the peri-lesional area, in which astroglial hypertrophy and resultant scar formation are evident. i–l Orthogonal magnified views of g and h showing the relationship between OPN and glial cells in the lesion center (i, j) and lesion periphery (k, l). In the lesion center, OPN puncta are mostly scattered around brain macrophages and some are within their cytoplasm (arrowheads in i), while they do not show colocalization pattern with astroglial fibers. In the lesion edge, OPN puncta are sparse and scattered among the activated microglia with evident processes or astroglial fibers but are not localized within both glial cells. Cell nuclei appear blue after DAPI staining. Scale bars = 100 μm for a, b, e, and f; 10 μm for c, d, g, h, and i–l

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