Figure 5

Treatment of MCAO rats with drugs E, SH and E + SH resulted in the reduction of TNF-α expression in activated microglia. Confocal images showing the expression of TNF-α (red) in lectin⁺ microglia (green) in the penumbral zones of MCAO rat brain (D-F) and following treatment with E (G-I), SH (J-L) and E + SH (M-O) (n = 5 for each group). A drastic increase in the expression of TNF-α (E) can be observed in the activated microglia (D) in MCAO rat brain. A marked reduction of TNF-α expression (H, K) was observed in activated microglia (G, J) 3 days following treatment of MCAO rats with drugs E and SH. Further, TNF-α expression (N) was negligible in activated microglia (M) when MCAO rats were treated with a combination of the two drugs. DAPI - blue. Scale bars in A-O: 20 μm.