Fig. 5

Spatiotemporal relationships of OPN and GFAP in the lesioned striatum. a–h Fluorescence intensity profiles of OPN and GFAP signals (c, d, g, and h) are generated along the indicated area (white arrows in a, b, e, and f) from Fig. 3b (3 days post-lesion), Fig. 3f (7 days), Fig. 4d (14 days), and Fig. 4h (28 days), respectively. Note that the OPN signal is localized away from the GFAP signal at 3 days post-lesion but becomes closer and overlaps with GFAP over time. i Quantitative analysis of the distance between the lateral border of the OPN-positive area and the astroglial scar border abutting the lesion core at 3 and 7 days post-lesion. Note that both become in close apposition with each other, and even overlap at 7 days (n = 17, 20 fields from 5 rats per time point, ^***P < 0.001 vs. the day 3, unpaired t test). j Quantitative temporal analysis of the overlapping area covered by OPN and GFAP in the astroglial scar showing that the overlapping area of both signals significantly increases at days 14 and 28 post-lesion (n = 16, 20 fields from 6 rats per time point, ^***P < 0.001 versus the day 7, one-way ANOVA (P < 0.0001) with Tukey’s multiple comparison test). Scale bars = 100 μm for a, b, e, and f