Mfge8-/- mice represent decreased neural stem cell proliferation after cerebral ischemia.

(A) DAPI, Nestin and BrdU immunofluorescent staining of the subventricular zone in mice. Wild type C57BL/6 (Wt) (a-c) and Mfge8-/- mice (d-f) showed similar sham baseline neural stem cell proliferation (Nestin+ and BrdU+ cells). Wt mice (g-i) showed increased Nestin+ and BrdU+ staining compared with the Mfge8-/- mice (j-l) at 7 days after tMCAO. Scale bar = 100 μm. (B) Representative merged profiling of DAPI, Nestin and BrdU positive cells showing considerable increase in Nestin+BrdU+ cells in Wt tMCAO mice than that of Mfge8-/- tMCAO mice. (C) Quantification of the BrdU+Nestin+ cells showed that Wt and Mfge8-/- sham mice had similar baseline numbers of proliferating neural stem cells. However, at 7 days post-tMCAO, Wt mice showed a 2.3-fold increase in BrdU+Nestin+ cells compared with Mfge8-/- mice. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. *p