Fig. 10

Injection of bmSC reduced apoptosis in the ventral horn. Ten weeks after SCI, cellular apoptosis was evaluated using activated caspase-3 as a marker. a-h Representative ROI containing apoptotic nuclei in the ventral horns of non-injured animals (a, b), after SCI/treatment with saline (c, d), with MP (e, f) and with bmSC (g, h). Immune staining of activated caspase-3 (red, all panels) was combined with Hoechst-33342 nuclear staining (blue, b, d, f, h, double exposure); 40x objective, scale bar in h. i Quantification of apoptosis in the grey matter is expressed as the percentage of activated caspase-3 IR nuclei of all nuclei. Bars show means and SEM, n = 5 rats/group; statistical evaluation with ANOVA, post-hoc Tukey tests. More apoptosis was observed after SCI when rats were treated with saline (♯ p < 0.05, ♯♯ p < 0.01). This increase in number of apototic cells failed to be significant after MP treatment and in the ventral horn also after bmSC treatment. Compared to saline, bmSC injections caused a highly significant reduction of apoptosis in the ventral grey matter (** p < 0.01)