Fig. 2

IL-10 from invading immune cells is neuroprotective. MRI was used to quantify infarct volume at day 3 and cortical atrophy volume at day 14 (A, B) after tMCAO in the chimeric mice (representative T2 image). C Composite neurological score was performed on day 14 after tMCAO. D Relative gene expression of Il10 in brain resident CD45^intermed/CD11b⁺ microglia and central nervous system-infiltrating CD45^high/CD11b⁺/CD11c⁻/MHCII⁻/Ly6g⁻/F4/80⁺ macrophages purified 3, 7, and 14 days after tMCAO by fluorescence activated cell sorting from ischemic hemispheres of C57Bl/6 mice. Expression levels were normalized to corresponding levels of microglia after sham surgery or blood macrophages. E Flow cytometric analysis of IL-10 produced by CD4⁺ Tregs (Foxp3⁺) or non-Tregs (Foxp3⁻). Infarct and atrophy data are presented as mean ± SEM of 16 WT mice which received Il10^−/− and 10–11 Il10^−/− mice which received WT bone-marrow cells (A, B), neurological score as mean ± SEM of 15 WT mice which received Il10^−/− and 10 Il10^−/− mice which received WT bone-marrow cells (C), RT-qPCR gene expression data as mean ± SEM of 3–7 (D) and flow cytometric data as mean of ± SEM of 5–10 mice in each group (E). Significances analyzed by Student t test (A, B), Mann–Whitney U test (C), and 1-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc test (D, E). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.01 and ****P < 0.0001. MΦ macrophages, MG microglia