Fig. 3

The effect of Muse cells on glial cell activation in the spinal dorsal horn. A, B Four DNFB administrations on the back skin induced glial cell activity in the cervical spinal cord. Immunohistochemistry was used to examine the activation of astrocytes and microglia in the dorsal horn of the cervical spinal cord (C3-C4). The expression of GFAP and IBA1 in the spinal cord increased significantly after DNFB administration, indicating that the CP model caused the activation of astrocytes and microglia. The activation of microglia and astrocytes in the Muse cell and supernatant treatment group were significantly suppressed. Compared with the supernatant, Muse cells had stronger inhibitory effect. Scale bar = 100 μm in the top and 50 μm in bottom panels. C, D Quantitative analysis of GFAP, IBA-1, and the immunofluorescence intensity (fold change relative to the naive control) in the spinal dorsal horn of naive and PBS and Muse cells and Muse cell supernatant-treated mice. One-way ANOVA followed by the Bonferroni test. ***p < 0.001 versus naive; n = 11 slices from 5 mice per group. The data are presented as the mean ± s.e.m