Fig. 3

SCI and AOPPs-MSA induced microglial activation. a Immunofluorescence staining showed the amounts of microglia in spinal cord tissues at different time points. Scale bar, 50 μm. b Iba-1 staining in microglia in the ventral horn of spinal cord sections on day 3 after SCI. Activated microglia exhibited significant cellular hypertrophy and retraction of processes after SCI, while resting microglia displayed smaller somata and processes. Scale bar, 20 μm. c Western blot demonstrated the protein levels of CD11b in the spinal cord of different groups on day 3 after SCI. n = 4 per group, *P < 0.05 versus control group. #P < 0.05 versus SCI group. d BV2 cells in the control group displayed ramified shapes, while after LPS stimulation (1 μg/mL) or AOPPs, most of the cells appeared round or ameboid in shape. e Western blots analysis of CD11b in BV2 cells of each group. Data are representative of at least 3 independent experiments and the values are presented as mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05 versus control group