Neutrophils Infiltrate the Spinal Cord Parenchyma of Rats with Experimental Diabetic Neuropathy

Figure 4

Diabetes is associated with an increase in neutrophil numbers within the spinal cord parenchyma, which is ameliorated with gabapentin treatment. (a–i) There is an increase in antineutrophil immunoreactivity within the dorsal horn (a–c), central region (d–f), and ventral horns (g–i) of untreated diabetic rats (arrows, (b), (e), and (h), scale bar represents 100 μm.). Dual immunofluorescence with antilaminin (green) to label blood vessels reveals the presence of intraluminal (asterisks, (j) and (l)) and parenchymal neutrophils (arrows, (k) and (l)). Only parenchymal neutrophils (i.e., those not associated with a vessel) were counted (m) and revealed an increase in neutrophils in the spinal cord of untreated diabetic rats and revealed that gabapentin treatment reduced the numbers to near-control levels ((m), , in a 1-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc tests. ).

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