Journal: Frontiers in Neurology
Article Title: Repetitive trans-spinal magnetic stimulation improves motor function in rats with spinal cord injury and is associated with upregulation of EphA4 signaling pathway proteins
doi: 10.3389/fneur.2026.1726570
Figure Lengend Snippet: Coexpression of EphA4 and VGluT2 detected by immunofluorescence. Six weeks of rTSMS treatment effectively promoted the synthesis of EphA4 and VGluT2 in cells of the ventral horn of the spinal cord in rats with acute SCI. Panels (A,F,K,P) show low-magnification immunofluorescence overviews of the spinal cord. The ventral horn cell region is outlined by a purple dashed line. A red dashed line indicates the dorsoventral axis. The yellow rectangle marks the specific area selected for high-magnification imaging in the subsequent panels. The scale bar represents 200 μm. High-magnification views (Panels B–E , G–J , L–O , Q–T ) are displayed at a uniform scale of 20 μm (scale bars shown). In these panels, immunopositive signals for EphA4 (detected with Cy3) appear in red, while those for VGluT2 (detected with EGFP) appear in green. Co-localization of EphA4 and VGluT2 immunoreactivity results in a yellowish signal. (U) Proportion of EphA4/VGluT2 double-labeled immunopositive neurons relative to the total cell count ( n = 3). (V) Proportion of EphA4-labeled neurons relative to the total cell count ( n = 3). (W) Proportion of VGluT2-labeled neurons relative to the total cell count ( n = 3). The data are presented as the means ± standard deviations. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001; ns, not significant. CON, control group; rTSMS, repetitive transspinal magnetic stimulation group; S-rTSMS, sham stimulation group; SO, sham-operated group.
Article Snippet: For immunofluorescence, the following primary antibodies were used: a rabbit polyclonal anti-EphA4 antibody (Product # 21875-1-AP, Proteintech; 1:50 dilution), which targets a protein of approximately 120 kDa, and a rabbit monoclonal anti-VGluT2 antibody (Product # DF13296, Affinity Biosciences; 1:200 dilution), targeting a protein of about 64 kDa.
Techniques: Immunofluorescence, Imaging, Labeling, Cell Characterization, Control