Fig. 9From: Interplay between androgen and CXCR4 chemokine signaling in myelin repairAstrocytes, AR and CXCR4 are highly expressed at the border of human white matter MS lesions. a–d Coronal section of the thoracic spinal cord from a female MS patient with 3 mixed active/inactive (chronic active) lesions were immunostained for MBP, CXCR4 and MPZ. The center and RIM of a lesion are delimited by dotted lines. NAWM = Normal Appearing White Matter. Scale bar: 1 mm. e–h Enlarged image of a lesion RIM immunostained for GFAP, CXCR4 and MPZ. GFAP and CXCR4 colocalized, indicating CXCR4 expressing astrocytes, and their immunostaining never overlapped with the Schwann cell marker MPZ (arrows). The MPZ+ Schwann cells most likely originated from nearby spinal nerve roots (indicated by stars). Scale bar: 30 µm. i and j Enlarged view of the colocalization of CXCR4 and MBP at the RIM, which was excluded of MPZ+ immunostaining. Scale bar: 50 µm. k and l GFAP and AR immunostaining colocalized and were exclusive to MPZ+ Schwann cells, most likely originating from nearby spinal nerve roots (star). Scale bar: 50 µm. m–p Quantification of MBP (m), CXCR4 (n), GFAP (o) and CXCR4/GFAP immunostaining (p) and counting of AR+ cells (q) within the lesion center, lesion RIM and NAWM of the MS lesions identified on spinal cord sections from the 10 MS patients (5 men and 5 women). Lesion is delimited by the dotted line. Data are presented as means ± S.E.M. (one-way ANOVA with Tukey's multiple comparisons tests). Asterisks mark significant differences. ***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01Back to article page