Fig. 1

Methylthioadenosine (MTA) dampens neuroinflammation, and prevents demyelination and axonal loss in mouse cerebellar cultures. A Organotypic cultures were treated with MTA (192 μM) or the placebo for 24 h at seven DIV and thereafter, they were stimulated with LPS (15 μg/ml) for 24 h. Immunofluorescent staining for NFL (red) and MBP (green) was analyzed in the slices, and in time-matched untreated control slices (arrow, axonal swelling; arrowhead, end bulb). Panels a, b and c scale bars: 50 μm. Panels d-i scale bar: 5 μm. Panel j shows the percentage of myelinated neurofilaments. B Cerebellar organotypic cultures at seven DIV were pre-treated with MTA (48 μM and 192 μM) or the placebo and stimulated with LPS (15 μg/ml) at different time points (0, 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h). IL-1β and TNF-α production was measured by ELISA and the cytokine release into the medium is expressed in pg/ml. The expression of iNOS and CNPase was measured in Western blots. Results are the mean of three independent experiments. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001