Fig. 2: Presence of platelets in brain areas of NSPC activation.

A, B Microphotographs of the area next to the lateral ventricle (LV, the walls of which are indicated by white, dotted, lines) in rat brain sections, 4 weeks following one hour of a unilateral, Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion, after immunostaining for laminin (in red) and CD41 (in green). The area affected by stroke is shaded in the illustration located above the photographs and the areas shown are outlined by blue rectangles. Note the absence of CD41+ platelets and the limited laminin immunoreactivity at the LV wall in the contralateral hemisphere, in contrast to the high expression of laminin in the striatum (for example, in the area outlined in B1) and in parts of the SEZ, positioned at the lateral wall of the LV (for example, in the area outlined in B2). Platelets are found outside (B1’ and B1”’) and inside (B1”) of laminin+ blood vessels in the striatum, and outside blood vessels, in the parenchyma, in the SEZ. C, D Microphotographs of the area next to the LV in rat brain sections, one week after the bilateral intracerebroventricular injection of neuraminidase (nam). Note the presence of CD41+ platelets aggregated within laminin+ blood vessels (shown in magnification in C1, D1). E, F Microphotographs of the Substantia Nigra (SN) in mouse brain sections following the intraperitoneal administration of saline, or of the microneurotrophin BNN-20, after immunostaining for dopaminergic neurons (TH+ in red), laminin (in white), and CD41 (in green). Note the presence of CD41+ platelets within (F2– F5) and outside (F6–F10) laminin+ blood vessels after the administration of BNN-20. [scale bars: 100 μm in low magnification images; 20 μm in high magnification insets].