Fig. 3

Aberrant alpha-smooth muscle actin (αSMA) immunolabeling in resected hippocampi from patients with MTLE relative to postmortem control. Original micrographs show αSMA immunolabeled sections from 6 resected hippocampi (A-F), a postmortem control (G), and a parallelly processed section by excluding the primary antibody serving as assay control (H). αSMA immunolabeling appears to be reduced in the hilus (Hi) and CA3, increased in the inner molecular layer (iML) and the subicular subregions (Sub) in the resected relative to control sections. The dispersed granule cells are visible in mix with enhanced neuropil labeling in the iML (A1). The labeling pattern around CA2 and its joining CA3 and CA1 areas appears to be enhanced with some laminar disruption in the resected samples (A, A1, C, F), as compared to the typical wadge-shape ending of the MF terminals in the control hippocampus (G). The labeling in CA1 appears as a band (pointed by arrows) in the resected hippocampi (A, B, C, D, E, F), which is flattened in the samples with the CA1 area greatly shrunken (B, E). Panel (I) illustrates the densitometric method, with the areas of interest selected using the interconnecting drawing tool, avoiding blood clotting areas, torn/broken areas and large blood vessels. The optic density (o.d.) obtained from the white matter (WM) area is used as the cutoff for defining the specific o.d. in the areas of interest. The relative levels (% of mean) of αSMA labeling intensity is significantly (*) increased in the iML and Sub, reduced in the hilus/CA3 (J). Additional abbreviations: s.o.: stratum oriens; s.p.: stratum pyramidale; s.l.m.: stratum lacunosum-moleculare; Pre-S: presubiculum; WM: white matter. Scale bars are as indicated.