The ratio of axon diameter to total fiber diameter (g-ratio) was measured by dividing the circumference of an axon without myelin by the circumference of the same axon including myelin (Crawford et al. 2010). For most axons, two encounters were measured. At least 500 axons were analyzed per treatment group. Electrophysiological recording procedures

Brain slices (400 μm thick) corresponding Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical approximately to plates 40–48 in the atlas of Franklin and Paxinos (2001) were used for electrophysiology recording, as previously described (Crawford et al. 2010). Compound action potential (CAP) recordings and axon refractoriness measurements were performed as previously described (Crawford et al. 2009a,b). Stimulation used for evoked CAP was constant current stimulus-isolated square wave pulses. Axon refractoriness is defined as the reduced excitability of an axon following an action potential. Axon damage can modify Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical refractoriness and its measurement represents a diagnostic tool to measure axon health. To quantify refractoriness, the suppression of a second CAP response in paired stimulus

trials is determined as previously described. Statistical analysis Quantification Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of immunostaining MLN0128 results was similar to previous studies (Tiwari-Woodruff et al. 2007; Crawford et al. 2009b). To quantify immunostaining results, we used 2 sections (about 400 μm apart)/mouse Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical from electrophysiology-recorded brains and 2 sections/mouse from perfused-fixed brains. There were n = 4 mice from electrophysiology + n = 4 mice that were perfuse fixed, with a total of n = 8 mice/per treatment group, for a total of 16 immunostained sections per treatment group. To quantify electrophysiology results from each treatment group: recordings from 2 caudal slices × 4 animals × 2 experiments = a total of 16 recordings were analyzed. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical For EM, 10 random caudal

area fields/animal at 3600× and 14,000× magnification were used to quantify the “g-ratio.” Values are expressed mean ± SEM. Statistical analysis of mean values was carried out using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Friedman test (only for clinical scores) or Bonferroni’s multiple comparison post-test. Differences were considered significant at the *P < 0.05 level. Statistical analyses were performed using MicroCal Origin (Northampton, MA) or Prism 4 (GraphPad Prism Software Inc., La Jolla, CA). Results LQ treatment decreases EAE disease severity equally in female Cell press and male mice First, the dose range finding (DRF) of LQ effective in reducing the course of EAE clinical disease in male and female mice was confirmed. To visualize and characterize the effects of LQ on inflammation, demyelination, and axon degeneration, chronic EAE was induced in 8-week-old male and female PLP_EGFP (Mallon et al. 2002) or Thy1-YFP (Feng et al. 2000) transgenic mice bred on the C57BL/6 background.