Fig. 5

Pathological changes under TEM of the contralateral dorsal CST in the spinal cord at level C5 post-ICH. a–c Low magnification (1200 × , Scale bar, 2 µm) and d–f high magnification TEM micrographs (5200 × , Scale bar, 500 nm) showing morphological changes of axon and myelin in Sham, Vehicle, and ISP groups at week 8 post-ICH. d Normal axons wrapped by intact myelin sheaths in the Sham group. e Swollen mitochondria (red arrowhead) and shrunken, degenerated axons (red asterisks) surrounded by a loose myelin sheath (red arrow). f Myelin sheath exhibiting less degeneration after ISP treatment compared with sheaths in the vehicle group. Ci and Co (black arrow) show the inner and outer ends of spiraling cytoplasmic processes of newly formed myelination. g, h ISP significantly decreased the number of demyelinated axons and increased the number of myelinated axons compared to the vehicle group at week 8. n = 3 per group. Data were analyzed by unpaired Student t test between two groups and one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s multiple comparisons test between three groups, and expressed as mean ± SD. ***p < 0.001