Fig. 6

Chronic LC activation from the peak of the EAE motor symptoms affects the spinal cord. A Representative images showing the demyelination in the lumbar spinal cord (cyan, MBP) and B its quantification expressed as the percentage of area free of MBP in the ventral white matter. C–G Perivascular infiltration in the thoracic spinal cord analyzed from C, E hematoxylin and eosin staining images and reflected as the D infiltration score, F perivascular cuffs and G preclinical cuffs. H–J Representative images showing astrocyte activation in the H dorsal and I ventral horns (DH, VH) of the lumbar spinal cord, and a graph of the J GFAP immunoreactivity (IR) in arbitrary units (AU). K Representative immunofluorescence images showing Iba1 (green) expression in the lumbar spinal cord and L its quantification, expressed as the relative area of the ventral white matter expressing Iba1. M–O Representative immunofluorescence images of Arg1 (red) and Iba1 (green) and corresponding magnifications in the lumbar spinal cord and P their quantification, expressed as the percentage of area of the ventral white matter in which Arg1 and Iba1 co-localize relative to the total area occupied by Iba1. The data represent the mean + SEM and each point corresponds to an individual mouse for P that represents a section (n = 4–5 per group except for P, 15 sections/animal (n = 3–4)). ^##p < 0.01; ^###p < 0.001 EAE versus naïve; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 EAE-rM3D_peak versus EAE (Additional file 1: Table S7). Scale bars: A, K, 200 µm; C, E, H, I, 100 µm; M, N, O, 50 µm. 250 µm insets in C