Figure 2

Representative photomicrographs of immunostaining after transient brainstem ischemia for 15 min (vestibular nucleus). Left column shows immunoreactivity for MAP2 (A-E); middle column shows immunoreactivity for IBA-1 (F-J); right column shows immunoreactivity for GFAP (K-O). Ischemic lesions with loss of immunoreactivity for MAP2 were seen in the lateral vestibular nucleus after bilateral vertebral artery occlusion (BVO) for 15 min (B; blue arrows), and these lesions had disappeared at 1 day after reperfusion (C). However, ischemic lesions had reappeared and expanded further at 3 days and 7 days after reperfusion (D and E; blue arrows). Clusters of IBA-1-positive amoeboid microglia/macrophages (I and J; blue arrows) and loss of expression of GFAP (N and O; blue arrows) were detected in the same areas where MAP2 expression was markedly lost at 3 days and 7 days after reperfusion. Increased immunoreactivity for GFAP (N and O; blue arrows) was also detected around ischemic lesions at 3 days and 7 days after reperfusion. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.