Fig. 3

MSC transplantation decreased the expression of TLR2 in neurons and suppressed apoptosis in the cerebral cortex of HIBD rats. a Double immunofluorescence staining of NSE or GFAP or Iba1 (green) together with TLR2 nred) in the cerebral cortex of rats of the control, HIBD and MSCs groups. a, d and g. Double immunofluorescence staining of NSE together with TLR2. The white arrows indicate co-localization of NSE and TLR2. b, e and h. Double immunofluorescence staining of GFAP together with TLR2. c, f and i. Double immunofluorescence staining of Iba1 together with TLR2. Scale bar = 50 μm. n = 4 in each group. b TUNEL staining in the rat cerebral cortex of the control, HIBD and MSCs groups. a, d and g. TUNEL-positive cells. b, e and h. DAPI-stained cells. c, f and i. Merged images of TUNEL-positive cells and DAPI-stained cells. The white arrows indicate TUNEL-positive cells that were merged with DAPI-stained cells. Scale bar = 50 μm. c The percentage of TUNEL-positive cells in the three groups of control, HIBD and MSCs. n = 5 in each group. The results are presented as the mean ± SEM. ^# P < 0.05 vs. the control group; &P < 0.05 vs. the HIBD group