Fig. 6: Osteopontin-positive myeloid cells accumulate in the perilesional zone in close proximity to CD44-positive cells 48 h after permanent MCAO in rats.

a Overview of a representative coronal brain section 48 h post MCAO, stained for Iba1, CD44 and osteopontin (OPN). Grey matter ROIs (GM) are highlighted in violet, white matter ROIs (WM) in lime green, lower right inset depicts a corresponding T2 weighted MRI image from the same animal. Bar = 2 mm. b Representative images from GM and WM ROIs of Sham, MCAO contra and MCAO ipsi sections, split by antigen. OPN = magenta, Iba1 = cyan, CD44 = yellow. Bars = 50 µm. MCAO ipsi MCAO group, hemisphere ipsilateral to ischemic lesion, MCAO contra MCAO group, hemisphere contralateral to ischemic lesion. c–f Cell counts within GM (c) and WM (d) are presented as box plots for Iba1⁺/OPN⁺ double positive cells, cell counts for Iba1⁺/CD44⁺/OPN⁺, Iba1⁺/CD44^-/OPN⁺, Iba1⁺/CD44⁺/OPN^-, Iba1⁺/CD44^-/OPN^- are jointly shown as colored stacked bar plots, for GM (e) and WM (f) ROIs. Data derived from n = 4 Sham control and n = 5 MCAO group animals, p values derived from Kruskal–Wallis-H-Tests, followed by Dunn’s post hoc comparisons. All box plots depict medians, 25th to 75th percentiles as hinges, minimal and maximal values as whiskers, and individual counts, for each animal as dots. Statistical comparison of all subsets within all ROIs is reported in Supplementary Data 7. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.