Attenuated reactive astrocytosis after stroke in <i>Smad1</i> cKO mice.

<p>(A) Images of IHC for reactive astrocyte marker GFAP on ipsilateral hemisphere at 7 days (top two panels) or 3 months (bottom panels) post-stroke. The border between the stroke core and peri-infarct area is outlined by dotted lines. Arrows point to striatal infarct core. (B) Enlarged IHC images of boxed areas in (A) at the cortical peri-infarct area (blue box in D) with the indicated reactive astrocyte markers GFAP, Nestin, and Vimentin. Enlarged images of GFAP IHC highlight the hypertrophic morphology of GFAP⁺ astrocytes in mutants. (C) Quantification of the number of GFAP⁺ astrocytes and the intensity of GFAP immunoreactivity (IR) at the peri-infarct area shown in (B). n = 4, one-way ANOVA for the number of astrocytes, unpaired Student’s t-test for GFAP intensity, ***p<0.001, Ipsi, ipsilateral; Ctra, contralateral cortex. (D) Diagram of infarct territory affected by tMCAO (blue) and peri-infarct cortical area (blue box). (E) Reactive astrocytosis was similarly attenuated in the ipsilateral hippocampus of <i>Smad1</i> cKO mice. Scale, 500 μm (A), 100 μm (B), and 200 μm (E).