Beneficial Effects of Ethyl Pyruvate through Inhibiting High-Mobility Group Box 1 Expression and TLR4/NF-B Pathway after Traumatic Brain Injury in the Rat
Figure 8
Immunohistochemistry staining showed the expression of HMGB1 and TLR4 protein in the brain tissue. The cytoplasm or extranuclear HMGB1 staining cells were considered as HMGB1-positive cells. (a) Immunohistochemistry staining showed that HMGB1 distributed mostly in the cell nucleus within the Sham group. Few HMGB1 and TLR4 positive cells were observed in the representative cortex. However, in the TBI group, TBI induced HMGB1 redistribution and TLR4 expression. HMGB1 cytoplasm translocation was observed in brain cells. However, EP treatment to the rats significantly decreased HMGB1 translocation and TLR4 expression. Arrows indicated representatively HMGB1 and TLR4 positive cells in the surrounding region of contusion cortex. Scale bars: 50 μm. (b) Quantification of HMGB1 and TLR4 positive cells in each group. TBI induced a marked increase of HMGB1 and TLR4 positive cells in the brain tissue surrounding the contusion cortex compared to the Sham group (). And EP treatment significantly reduced HMGB1 and TLR4 positive cells in TBI + EP group than that compared to the TBI group (). Bars represent as mean ± SEM; , each group; **P versus Sham group, ##P versus TBI group.
