Seizure - European Journal of Epilepsy Up-regulated BAFF and BAFF receptor expression in patients with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy and a pilocarpine-induced epilepsy rat model  Ma Limin , Li Ruohan , Huang Hao , Yuan Jinxian , Ou Shu , Xu Tao , Yu Xinyuan , Liu Xi , Chen Yangmei   Seizure - European Journal of Epilepsy  Volume 48, Pages 79-88 (May 2017) DOI: 10.1016/j.seizure.2017.03.016 Copyright © 2017 British Epilepsy Association Terms and Conditions

Fig. 1 Double-label immunofluorescence staining in the temporal neocortex regions of patients with TLE. BAFF (green) was co-expressed with MAP2-positive neurons (red) but not with GFAP-positive astrocytes (red) (A, B). BAFFR (green) was co-localized with MAP2-positive neurons (red) but not with GFAP-positive astrocytes (red) (C, D). These findings indicate that BAFF and BAFFR were expressed in the cytoplasm and cytomembranes of neurons. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.) Seizure - European Journal of Epilepsy 2017 48, 79-88DOI: (10.1016/j.seizure.2017.03.016) Copyright © 2017 British Epilepsy Association Terms and Conditions

Fig. 2 Double-label immunofluorescence staining in the hippocampal CA1 regions of epileptic rats. BAFF (green) was co-expressed with MAP2-positive neurons (red) but not with GFAP-positive astrocytes (red) (A, B). BAFFR (green) was co-localized with MAP2-positive neurons (red) but not with GFAP-positive astrocytes (red) (C, D). (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.) Seizure - European Journal of Epilepsy 2017 48, 79-88DOI: (10.1016/j.seizure.2017.03.016) Copyright © 2017 British Epilepsy Association Terms and Conditions

Fig. 3 Double-label immunofluorescence staining in the temporal neocortex regions of epileptic rats. BAFF (green) was co-expressed with MAP2-positive neurons (red) but not with GFAP-positive astrocytes (red) (A, B). BAFFR (green) was co-localized with MAP2-positive neurons (blue) but not with GFAP-positive astrocytes (red) (C, D). (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.) Seizure - European Journal of Epilepsy 2017 48, 79-88DOI: (10.1016/j.seizure.2017.03.016) Copyright © 2017 British Epilepsy Association Terms and Conditions

Fig. 4 The BAFF and BAFFR mRNA levels were measured by RT-qPCR, and the changes in mRNA expression in the patients with intractable TLE and TLE rats were expressed as fold changes relative to the expression in controls; GAPDH (human) and β-actin (rat) were used as internal control genes. The BAFF and BAFFR mRNA levels were up-regulated in the temporal neocortices of the patients with TLE and in the hippocampus and adjacent cortices of the TLE rats. (a) BAFF and (b) BAFFR mRNA expression in the temporal neocortices of the patients with intractable TLE. (c) BAFF and (d) BAFFR mRNA expression in the hippocampus and adjacent cortices of the TLE rats (*P<0.05). Seizure - European Journal of Epilepsy 2017 48, 79-88DOI: (10.1016/j.seizure.2017.03.016) Copyright © 2017 British Epilepsy Association Terms and Conditions

Fig. 5 Western blot analysis for BAFF and BAFFR in the temporal neocortices of humans and controls (A). The respective bar graphs showing that BAFF and BAFFR protein expression levels were up-regulated in the patients with TLE compared with those in the controls (B, C). BAFF and BAFFR protein expression in the temporal neocortices and hippocampi of TLE rats and controls (D, G). The respective bar graphs showing that the protein expression levels of BAFF and BAFFR were up-regulated in the TLE rats compared with those in the controls (E, F, H, I) (*P<0.05). Seizure - European Journal of Epilepsy 2017 48, 79-88DOI: (10.1016/j.seizure.2017.03.016) Copyright © 2017 British Epilepsy Association Terms and Conditions

Fig. 6 Immunohistochemistry for BAFF in the temporal neocortex of humans (A) and the CA1 (B) and cortex (C) regions of epileptic rats demonstrated immunoreactive staining for BAFF in the TLE group compared with strong immunoreactive staining in the control groups. The black arrows show the BAFF-positive cells. A comparison of the mean OD values (D–F) indicated significantly higher BAFF expression in the TLE group than in the control group (*P<0.05). Seizure - European Journal of Epilepsy 2017 48, 79-88DOI: (10.1016/j.seizure.2017.03.016) Copyright © 2017 British Epilepsy Association Terms and Conditions

Fig. 7 Immunohistochemistry for BAFFR in the temporal neocortices of humans (A) and the CA1 (B) and cortex (C) regions of epileptic rats. The black arrows show the BAFFR-positive cells. A comparison of the mean OD values (D–F) indicated significantly higher BAFFR expression in the TLE group than in the control group (*P<0.05). Seizure - European Journal of Epilepsy 2017 48, 79-88DOI: (10.1016/j.seizure.2017.03.016) Copyright © 2017 British Epilepsy Association Terms and Conditions