Inflammatory Profiling of Schwann Cells in Contact with Growing Axons Distal to Nerve Injury
Figure 3
Cryostat sections through the sciatic nerve of naïve rat (a), after sham operation (b), and distal to sciatic nerve crush for 7 d (c) immunostained for IL-4. The sections of naive and sham-operated sciatic nerve displayed very weak immunofluorescence for IL-4, but moderate intensity of IL-4 immunofluorescence was observed distal to nerve crush injury. Schwann cells immunodetected by GFAP displayed also immunostaining for IL-4 at higher power magnification (arrowheads, (d)–(f)). Growing GAP43+ axons (arrows) were found in close contact with IL4+ Schwann cells (arrowheads) ((g)–(i)). Scale bars for (a)–(c) = 80 μm, for (d)–(f) = 15 μm, for (g)–(i) = 5 μm.
