Figure 4

Anti-osteopontin antibody treatment reduces osteopontin and CD44 receptor expression in astrocytes and microglia post-ischemic stroke. (a,b) Representative images of immunofluorescence staining for osteopontin (OPN, red, inset), CD44 receptor (green, inset) and cell-specific markers (white, overlay) including GFAP for astrocytes (a) and IBA1 for microglia/macrophages (b) in the infarct core and peri-infarct region of Ctrl IgG and α-OPN antibody-treated mice 24 h post-ischemic stroke. White arrowheads indicate osteopontin and CD44 receptor expression in astrocytes and microglia/macrophages. (c–f) Quantification of osteopontin and CD44 receptor expression intensity (arbitrary unit, a.u.) in astrocytes (c,d) and microglia/macrophages (e,f) in the infarct core and peri-infarct region utilizing 3 images/region/animal, n = 8 and 8 for Ctrl IgG and α-OPN antibody treatment group, respectively; */^§P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 and not significant (ns) P > 0.05. * indicates two-tailed, unpaired t-test with Welch’s correction when variances were significantly different based on F-test, comparing the two treatment groups for the same region, and § indicates two-tailed, paired t-test comparison of infarct core to peri-infarct region within the same treatment group. Scale bars 50 µm and 10 µm in insets (a,b).