Fig. 2

Oral administration of IRX4204 beginning at peak disease (DPI 16) reduces white matter loss and axonal transection in the lumbar spinal cord of EAE mice. (A) Representative spinal cord sections from EAE mice treated orally with vehicle (Veh; 5 mL/kg/day; left) or IRX4204 (12 mg/kg/day; right) stained with Eriochrome Cyanine and counterstained with Neutral Red. Arrows depict regions of white matter loss. (B) Quantification of regions of white matter loss revealed a significant reduction in white matter loss at DPI 44 in IRX4204/EAE compared to EAE/Veh mice (n = 7). (C, E, F) Representative images of eYFP fluorescence in corticospinal axons in white matter regions of spinal cord sections from EAE mice treated orally with Veh (5 mL/kg/day) or IRX4204 (12 mg/kg/day). (D) Axon damage, quantified at DPI 44 by calculating percent area of suprathreshold punctate eYFP labelling, revealed a reduction in axonal transection in EAE/IRX4204 relative to EAE/Veh mice (n = 5, one-tailed Mann-Whitney U test, mean; *p < 0.05)