Fig. 11

Multinuclear astrocytes can survive for long times and enter new cell cycles. a, b Multinuclear astrocytes filled with Lucifer Yellow (LY) at 2 (a) and 4 (b) months after pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus. Note that astrocytes have bushy shape (indicating the presence of many miniature distal processes) and are coupled with neighboring astrocytes (arrows). Insets in lower right parts of images show micronuclei. c Gliotic scar in piriform cortex, 1 year after pilocarpine administration. Note multinucleated astrocyte (arrow) with 4 nuclei. GLT-1immunoreactivity outlines the plasma membrane of the cell body. c1 and c2 – enlarged soma (c1) and nuclei visualized with DAPI (c2). d-i Multinuclear astrocytes enter new cell cycle and mitosis. Hippocampus, 6 months after pilocarpine administration. d Sclerotic hippocampus (arrows indicate the area of neuronal loss and glial scar in the CA1 subfield). Many astrocytes are Ki67+ in dentate gyrus (DG) (d’). e, f Nuclei in multinuclear astrocytes are PCNA+ indicating that cells are entering the cell cycle. Insets show profiles of several nuclei in each cell. In E the arrow indicates an astrocyte with several PCNA+ nuclei. g An astrocyte with two Ki67+ nuclei and condensed chromosomes indicating prophase of mitosis. g’– enlarged image of nuclei in prophase. h Metaphase with several centrosomes stained with γ-tubulin and pericentrin (PC). i An astrocyte with a large group of chromosomes with several spindle-like structures. Inset shows metaphase chromosomes. All images were obtained with confocal microscope. Scale bars: a,b = 15 μm,  c = 20 μm, d = 90 μm, e,f = 30 μm, g = 20 μm, g',h,i = 8 μm