Fig. 1: Astrocyte activation in acute, subacute, and chronic TBI.

A Immunofluorescence staining of the injury site using DAPI (blue) and GFAP (red) in Sham, acute, subacute, and chronic TBI. Dotted boxes indicate focused regions of interest affecting astrocyte morphology in the thalamus. Scale bar: 800 µm and 50 µm. B Immunofluorescence staining of homeostatic (white border) and activated (green border) pericontusional GFAP⁺ cells using DAPI (blue) and GFAP (red). C Pericontusional GFAP⁺ cells quantified using ImageJ (Sham n = 4, Acute TBI n = 4, Subacute TBI n = 4, Chronic TBI n = 4), analyzed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons. Data are shown as mean ± s.e.m. D GFAP⁺ cells quantified using Imaris software (Sham n = 3, Acute n = 3, Subacute n = 3, and Chronic n = 3), analyzed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons. Data are shown as mean ± s.e.m. Scale bar 10 µm.