Distribution of N-Acetylgalactosamine-Positive Perineuronal Nets in the Macaque Brain: Anatomy and Implications

Figure 2

Perineuronal net identification. WFA, NeuN, and combined labeling in primary motor cortex. (a) shows labeling that we identified as PNN-positive, marked with +. (b) shows labeling that we identified as PNN-negative. Cells without PNNs are indicated with . (c) shows some examples of how we classified more ambiguous labeling. 1: a cell with strong WFA and weak NeuN staining, which we classified as WFA+ (+ symbol). 2: labeling which looks like it might surround a cell but does not clearly surround NeuN labeling ( symbol). 3: cells that produce absence of background labeling in the WFA channel but are not associated with clear WFA labeling. Even though the background is brighter than the “black” region, we do not identify these cells as WFA+, because they do not have a clear ring-like net ( symbol). 4: cell with partial somatic WFA staining, but because the ring around the cell is incomplete, we cannot unambiguously classify the cell as PNN-positive ( symbol). Scale bars are 50 μm.

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