Beneficial Effect of the Traditional Chinese Drug Shu-Xue-Tong on Recovery of Spinal Cord Injury in the Rat

Figure 3

HE and thionin staining at 14 d. (a) and (b) HE staining. (a) Saline control, (b) SXT treated. The boundary of the lesion site is outlined. The lesion area is significantly smaller in (b). (c) The lesion area is prominently reduced in the SXT group (𝑃<.01). (d)–(g) Thionin staining. (d) and (f) Saline control. (e) and (g) SXT treated. The boxes in (d), (e) are the areas adjacent to the lesion sites, showing that there is larger number of neurons in the SXT treated animal. (f) and (g) are successive blown-ups of the boxes in (d) and (e), displaying the abundance of microglia cells in the saline control. (f in (f) is the high magnification of the box at the upper left part of the figure). Scale bar in (a), (b) and (d)–(e) = 500 𝜇m; in (f) and (g) = 100 𝜇m; in (f) = 25 𝜇m.