Figure 6

Increased expression of FGF-2 is time correlated with increased astrocyte proliferation in the LSC after nerve lesion and treatment with BMMC. A: Low magnification photomicrogragh of lumbar spinal cord with an uninjured sciatic nerve stained with neutral red. The DL region is circled. B-F: Optical sections by confocal microscopy of LSC at DL region immunolabeled for FGF-2 ten days after sciatic nerve lesion treated with PBS (B, ipsi-lateral and C, contralateral) or BMMC (E, ipsi-lateral and F, contralateral). D: LSC section of an uninjured rat. Cell nuclei were counterstained with TO-PRO G: histogram of FGF-2 fluorescence between experimental groups. Statistics: p<0.001 ANOVA. H-N: Optical slides by confocal microscopy of the DL region of LSC double immunolabeled for KI-67 (red) and GFAP (green) ten days after sciatic nerve lesion treated with PBS (H, ipsi-lateral and K, contralateral), BMMC (I, ipsilateral and L, contralateral) or BMMC+ neutralizing FGF-2 antibody (J, ipsilateral and M, contralateral) delivered by osmotic mini-pumps. N: LSC section of an uninjured rat. O: Histogram of the number of KI-67/GFAP + astrocytes at DL/LSC region per mm2. Statistics: p<0.001 ANOVA. Scale bars: A = 200 µm; B-F, H-M=50 µm.