Figure 4

Acute neuronal membrane disruption was not altered in the cortex of Bup-treated animals. Representative photomicrographs of sub-acute neuronal membrane disruption in the lateral neocortex of rats treated with saline or buprenorphine. Prior to sacrifice at 1d post-injury rats were infused with a 10 kDa cell-impermeable, biotinylated dextran. NeuN + neurons are green (single channel images in bottom images) and dextran-containing membrane disrupted neurons are pseudocolored red (single channel images in middle images). Brain sections were incubated with goat anti-biotin primary antibody followed by Alexa-568-conjugated donkey anti-goat secondary antibodies to visualized cells that contained dextrans for the assessment of neuronal membrane disruption (arrows) in the lateral neocortex layers V and VI. Corresponding bar graph depicting the percentage of total neurons that showed disruption in saline and buprenorphine treated animals. The percentage of dextran + neurons was consistent between groups, indicating that buprenorphine treatment did not affect the percentage of membrane disrupted neurons in the cortex. Figure was compiled using Adobe Photoshop CS., version 22.0 (2020), San Diego, CA. n = 6 rats/group. Mean ± SEM. Scale = 20 μm.