Fig. 5

Nissl staining for cerebral infarct area and TTC staining for ischemic brain tissue in each group. a, b Cerebral infarct area is shown by Nissl staining. A a is representative Nissl staining for cerebral infarction area. The tract of red dotted line revealed cerebral infarct area. We calculated the cerebral infarct area ratio by the following method: Cerebral infarct area ratio = [LT – (RT – RI)] × 100/LT (%), where LT is the area of the left hemisphere, RT is the area of the right hemisphere, and RI is the infarct area in mm² at the level of SVZ. c ANOVA detected significant treatment effects on cerebral infarct in Nissl-stained infarcted areas, which was significantly reduced in the SB623 + Ex group compared to the vehicle, Ex, and SB623 group, respectively (each group: n = 5, F_{(3, 16)} = 16.4, p < 0.001). The Ex group and the SB623 group showed significantly reduced infarcted areas in Nissl-stained tissue sections compared to the vehicle group (mean ± SE, ^*p < 0.05, ^**p < 0.01 vs. vehicle group, ^#p < 0.05 vs. SB623 + Ex group). d Representative TTC-stained coronal sections at the level of 0.7 mm anterior from bregma are shown in each group. Infarct area appears in white, and normal tissue in red. Abbreviation: TTC: 2, 3, 4-triphenyltetrazolium chloride, MCAO: middle cerebral artery occlusion; SVZ: subventricular zone