Fig. 6: Local inhibition of ADAM17 activity in the injured cortex increases neuroblast number.

Mechanical cortical lesions were unilaterally performed in the primary motor cortex of adult mice and locally injected with vehicle, an empty lentiviral vector expressing Zs-Green (both of them as controls) or a lentiviral vector expressing the Pro domain region of ADAM17 (ADAM17-Pro). Animals were sacrificed 14 (s14 dpi), after receiving BrdU injections as explained in the figure. The upper right panel shows the experimental protocol for BrdU injection in s14 dpi mice, which were injected on the day of sacrifice. a Fluorescence representative images of the area surrounding cortical lesions in mice showing proliferating BrdU⁺ cells (blue), the green fluorescent protein ZS-Green, and the early neuronal marker DCX (red). b Quantification of BrdU⁺ cells/mm³ in the perilesional area of the indicated animal groups. c Quantification of DCX⁺ cells/mm³ in the perilesional area of the indicated animal groups. Dotted lines delineate cortical lesion borders. Scale bar = 50 µm. Data shown are the mean ± S.E.M.; n = 3–6 animals per group. Statistical analysis: ANOVA and Bonferroni posttest, *p < 0.05 when compared with rest of groups. L lesion