Fig. 5

CTSS causes Ephrin-B2 cleavage in the human sensory nerve. A Images showing IBA1, CTSS, Ephrin-B2, αSMA, EphB2, or S100β immunofluorescence and Hoechst-33258 in the human nasopalatine nerve. Arrowheads indicate IBA1/CTSS-double-positive cells (top), Ephrin-B2/αSMA-double-positive cells (middle), and EphB2/S100β-double-positive cells (bottom). B Blots of fEphrin-B2 and cEphrin-B2 in the nasopalatine nerve homogenate after treatment with rhCTSS and Z-FL (20 or 200 μM). C Column represents the average values of fEphrin-B2/β-actin or cEphrin-B2/β-actin. n = 3 patients, one-way ANOVA post hoc Tukey’s test. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 All data points are shown in open circles