Research Paper Volume 13, Issue 17 pp 21642—21658

Figure 8. AS-Exos decrease TBI-induced neuronal apoptosis by activating Nrf2. (A) Western blot analysis shows expression levels of CC-3 and ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 proteins in the hippocampus of mice groups at 48 h following TBI or Sham surgery. (B–C) Bar graphs show (B) CC-3 protein expression levels and (C) ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 proteins normalized to β-actin. (D–E) Bar graphs show the (D) CC-3 mRNA expression levels and (E) ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 mRNAs relative to β-actin mRNA levels in the hippocampus tissues of the mice groups. (F) Representative confocal images show TUNEL (green) and DAPI (blue) staining of hippocampus tissue sections from the mice groups. (G) Bar graph shows the relative percentage of apoptotic neuronal cells in the hippocampus tissues from various mice groups. (H) MATLAB software analysis shows the staining intensities for NeuN and CC-3 in the hippocampus tissues of various mice groups. (I) Representative images show double immunofluorescence staining of NeuN (red) and CC-3 (green) in the hippocampus tissues of various mice groups. (Scale bar, 100 μm). Data are represented as means ± SD (n = 5 per group). ^#P < 0.05 or ^##P < 0.01 vs. C57BL/6+Sham; ^*P < 0.05 or ^**P < 0.01 vs. C57BL/6+TBI group; ^&P < 0.05 or ^&&P < 0.01 vs. Nrf2-KO+Sham group.