Fig. 4: CSPG digestion alters immune cell phenotype and spatial distribution at the injury epicentre after spinal cord injury.

a, b Immunohistochemistry in transverse spinal cord sections at the injury epicentre at 7 dpi showing CS-56 expression and distribution in a LV-GFP and b LV-ChABC treated animals (i and ii show higher magnification of selected areas). c, d Immunohistochemistry showing GFAP (green) and CD206 (red) expression and distribution in c LV-GFP and d Lv-ChABC treated animals (i and ii show higher magnification of selected areas). Note the change in spatial distribution of CD206+ immune cells in response to CSPGs, with CD206+ cells restricted to a ring-like pattern around the inner astroglial border and absent from CSPG-dense lesion core in LV-GFP-treated animals (a, c), in contrast to the densely packed core of CD206+ immune cells in LV-ChABC treated animals (d) mirrored almost exactly by an absence of CSPGs in the lesion core (b). e, f Immunohistochemistry showing NFH (green) and iNOS (red) expression and distribution in c LV-GFP and d LV-ChABC-treated animals (i and ii show higher magnification of selected areas). a–f Nuclei in blue were stained with DAPI. g–j Bar graphs quantifying CS-56 (g, h), CD206 (i) and iNOS (j) expression between groups assessed by fluorescence intensity. Results were assessed for normality using the Shapiro–Wilk test and analysed using a two-tailed unpaired t test. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 vs. LV−. Data are shown as mean ± SEM (n = 4 in LV-GFP and n = 3 in LV-ChABC groups). Detailed statistics and exact p values are provided in Supplementary Table 8. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.