Fig. 8. Western blot analysis showing the levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in the ipsilateral cuneate nucleus (CN) on day 7 after chronic constriction injury (CCI) in rats treated with regional or whole-body hypothermia. (A ) Application of regional hypothermia led to a significant decrease in GFAP levels (P < 0.05, by two-way ANOVA). In rats pretreated with mild or deep regional hypothermia, there was a significant decrease in GFAP levels compared with those pretreated with regional normothermia (*P < 0.05, by Tukey test). In the 5 h postinjury group, GFAP levels in the CN were also significantly decreased in CCI rats treated with mild or deep regional hypothermia compared with those treated with regional normothermia (*P < 0.05, by Tukey test). Furthermore, when administered preinjury and 5 h postinjury, deep regional hypothermia was more effective in suppressing GFAP levels than mild regional hypothermia (#P < 0.05, by Tukey test). However, in 1 day, 3 days, and 5 days postinjury groups, no significant differences in the levels of GFAP in the CN were observed among rats that received regional normothermia, mild regional hypothermia, or deep regional hypothermia (P > 0.05, by Tukey test). (B ) A significant decrease in GFAP levels was noted after applying whole-body hypothermia (P < 0.05, by two-way ANOVA). In preinjury, 5 h, 1 day and 3 days postinjury groups, mild and deep whole-body hypothermia were effective in decreasing GFAP levels in the CN of CCI rats compared with whole-body normothermia (*P < 0.05, by Tukey test). On day 5 postinjury, deep whole-body hypothermia, but not mild whole-body hypothermia, resulted in a significant decrease in the levels of GFAP compared with whole-body normothermia (*P < 0.05, by Tukey test). In addition, deep whole-body hypothermia was more effective in suppressing GFAP levels than mild whole-body hypothermia (#P < 0.05, by Tukey test). Whole-body hypothermia, either mild or deep, resulted in lower GFAP levels than the corresponding regional hypothermia (P < 0.05, by two-way ANOVA). Regional and whole-body normothermia contributed to a similar increase in GFAP levels (P > 0.05, by two-way ANOVA). β-actin was used as a loading control. Error bars represent mean ± SD; n = 5 rats per treatment.