Fig. 2

Phagocytic characteristics of MG/MDM far from and near the spinal cord injury (SCI) site in the dorsal column. Representative 5 nm per pixel scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of MG/MDM far (A, C) and near (B, D) the SCI site in the dorsal column of lower thoracic spinal cord of 8-week-old female mice that received a contusion injury. Quantitative graphs representing the number of phagosomes within the MG/MDM cytoplasm (E), the number of partially digested phagosomes (F), phagosomes that are myelinated axons (G) and fully digested phagosomes (H). Data are expressed as individual dots and are shown as means ± SEM. *p < 0.05, using a non-parametric Mann–Whitney test. Statistical tests were performed on n = 10–14 MG/MDM per animal with N = 3 mice/group, for a total of 79 cell bodies analyzed. Red outline = cytoplasmic membrane, yellow outline = nuclear membrane, ma = non-degraded myelinated axon, dma = degraded myelinated axon, blue asterisk = fully digested phagosome, pink asterisk = myelin phagosome, green asterisk = partially digested phagosome