Fig. 2

Neutrophil elastase (NE) and angiopoietin-2 (ANGPT-2) expression increases and angiopoietin-1 (ANGPT-1) and rat endothelial cell antigen (RECA-1) expression decreases after spinal cord injury (SCI) at the epicenter of the damage. a Schematic showing SCI method. Total RNA was prepared from spinal cord tissues at the epicenter of the damage collected 3 h and 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days after SCI to determine the expression of NE (b), ANGPT-1 (c), and ANGPT-2 (d). e Representative images of immunohistochemistry performed on longitudinal sections for NE (i), ANGPT-1 and RECA-1(ii), and ANGPT-2 (iii) at different time points after SCI [3 fields/slide, n = 2–3/group (sham = 2, and injury = 3)]. GAPDH was used as internal controls for real-time quantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction. Data represent means ± S.E.M. [n = 2–3/group (sham = 2, and injury = 3) performed in triplicates]. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 compared with Sham group