Figure 3

Immunoreactivity of ERK-P in the distal stumps of sciatic nerves in various time points after crush injury. Longitudinal sections are shown in E-M. Transverse sections are shown in A-D. Single staining for ERK-P only (A, C, F, H, J and L). Single staining for S-100 (red) (I and M). Double staining for ERK-P (green) and pan-neurofilament (NF, red) (B, D, E, G and K). Arrowheads indicate the locations of axons; filled and open arrows indicate the ERK and S-100 immunoreactivities in Schwann cells, respectively. At post-crush 1 day (A & B), ERK-P immunoreactivity was observed in the axons and with higher frequency in Schwann cells compared to the intact nerve as indicated by partial co-localization of ERK-P with pan-neurofilament. Afterwards, ERK-P was exclusively localized in Schwann cells forming Bungner's bands since it was co-localized with S-100 (H-I and L-M) but not NF at post-crush 1 week (C-E), 2 weeks (F-G) and 1 month (J-K). Scale bars represent 40 μm.