Intraarterial LepA injection via ipsilateral ICA reduced pSTAT3 and pSmad2 levels in the CA1 region following ischemia and reperfusion.

(A) Representative images of pSTAT3 signal indicating its presents in IR/saline-injected (brown), but not in IR/LepA-treated mice. (B) Representative images of pSmad2 signal demonstrated that all viable pyramidal cells in both treatment groups were pSmad2 positive, while in the surrounding of the CA1 region pSmad2 was higher in IR/saline-injected mice compared to IR/LepA-injected counterparts. Scale bars are 500 μm and 100 μm for low and high magnification, respectively. (C) Less pSmad2-positive cells were found surrounding the CA1 region in IR/saline compared to IR/LepA treated mice (n = 4, unpaired two-tailed Student t-test, t₍₆₎ = 5.058, p = 0.0023).