Fig. 6. Upregulation of matrilin 2 and 4 in nerves after lesion. Matrilin-2 expression analysed by immunofluorescence staining of transverse sections from damaged (A,C) and intact (B,D) femoral (A,B) and sciatic (C,D) nerves dissected from adult wild-type mice 3 or 5 days after transection of the femoral or sciatic nerve, respectively. Matrilin-4 expression analysed by immunofluorescence staining of transverse sections from damaged (E) and intact (F) sciatic nerve 7 days after transection. (A-F) Note the strong upregulation upon injury (n=4 mice per experiment). Scale bars: 100 µm. (G) Upregulation of matrilin 2 in damaged sciatic nerves 7 days after nerve injury revealed by western blotting. Samples from intact nerves, as well as proximal and distal stumps of injured nerves, were analysed using antibodies against matrilin 2 and β-actin. (H) RT-PCR analysis was performed on lesioned femoral nerves from wild-type (+/+) and matrilin-2-deficient adult (–/–) animals 5 days after nerve lesion. Note the higher expression of matrilin 4 in samples from lesioned nerve from mutant animals compared with wild-type animals. Expression of Ddost served as an internal control.