Figure 1

Characterisation of astrocyte cultures. A. Epifluorescence photomicrographs showing combined labelling with anti-GFAP and anti-F4/80 antibodies, and nuclear intercalant Hoechst. Astrocyte culture were charaterised as being greater than 95% pure by counting GFAP-positive cells and F4/80-positive cells (microglia) over the total number of cells stained by Hoechst. B. Expression of TIMP-1 in astrocytes was assessed by western blot; lane 1: mouse recombinant TIMP-1, lane 2: supernatant of WT astrocytes and lane 3: supernatant of KO astrocytes. C. Phase contrast photomicrographs of astrocyte cultures. No apparent morphological differences were seen between WT and KO astrocytes. D. Effect of treatments on cell viability. Only TNF-α treatment induced a mild cytotoxic effect on WT astrocytes. Values represent the mean +/- s.e.m. of at least three independent experiments. Statistical differences were determined by Student's t-test when comparing treatments to normalised values (* p < 0.05). Scale bar represents 50 μm.