However, the analysis of the active, phosphorylated ezrin, imaged in Z-stacks from GFAP-labelled astrocytes, revealed its decrease by 27.4% in 24 h post-AOM (from 73.1 ± 27.2 to 53.3 ± 24.6; 40 astrocytes for control and 53 for HE, n = 4), with no changes at the earlier post-AOM times (Fig. 3E-F). Here, EZR is linked to infectious otitis media.