Fig. 2
Stroke patients accumulate pro-inflammatory cytokines and show increased NET formation within the retrieved thrombi. A CD4+ T cells of patients with ischemic stroke and control patients were assessed for their intracellular expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-17, IFN-y and IL-22 and show significantly higher absolute numbers of these TH1 and TH17 cytokines in peripheral blood. Data are representative for 35 stroke patients and 16 control patients (Healthy) and presented as mean ± SD. Mann-Whitney-U Test, * p ≤ 0.05; ** p ≤ 0.01; *** p ≤ 0.001. B Retrieved thrombi of 35 ischemic patients were analyzed via fluorescence microscopy for the expression of intact but activated CD66b+ neutrophils within the thrombus and apoptotic neutrophils in form of NET (Sytox Green positive). The MFI for CD66b expression and NET formation within the thrombi were determined. Correlation between these two parameters shows a significant slope for such. C Representative fluorescence images of a thrombus stained for NET (green; left image) and CD66b (red; middle image) as well as an overly of both (merged; right image)