Fig. 5

Quercetin reduced the numbers of M1-type macrophages/microglia in injured spinal cord. a–c Real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction of M1-associated mRNA transcripts of TNFα, iNOS, and CD86 in saline or quercetin-treated rats at 10 dpi. d Double-staining of iNOS and Iba-1 in quercetin-treated or saline-treated rats at 10 dpi. Representative images are from sections 20 μm to the lesion epicenter. Scale bar = 30 μm. e Quantification of iNOS-positive microglia/macrophages. Notice the decrease of iNOS-positive microglia/macrophages in quercetin-treated rats. *p < 0.05 compared to SCI + saline control. f The bilateral areas 200 μm rostral and caudal to the lesion site and the lesion epicenter on which quantification was performed. Scale bar = 80 μm. All data are expressed as mean ± SEM. Differences among groups were determined with unpaired two-tailed t test (a–c, e). N = 6 in each group, *p < 0.05