Fig. 1

Astrocytic VLSFAs induced by MM leads to neuron lipoapoptosis. a–c, A schematic diagram describing the preparation of GM a AM, AMM b MM, MAM c and the neurons treated with various conditional medium. d, Representative confocal images of primary neurons treated by various conditional medium (scale bar, 25 μm). e, Statistical analysis of neurons morphology including average branch length, the number of end-point voxels and branch in d by Image J. f, Representative confocal images of neuronal Tunel⁺ nuclei in red following the treatment with various conditional medium (scale bar, 25 μm). g, The quantitation analysis of Tunel positive cells in f via Image J. For e, g, n = 3, representing three independent experiments, data are mean ± SEM. One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test for multiple groups was used for statistical analysis. h, The mRNA level of Elovl1 in astrocytes treated by MM determined by qPCR. i, The level of Elovl1 in MM-treated astrocytes detected by WB. j, Quantification of the WB in i by Image J. For h, j, n = 3, representing three independent experiments, data are mean ± SEM, and Student’s test was used for statistical analysis. k, Heat map showing the levels of saturated, long-chain FFAs in MAM. ns, no significance; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 and ****p < 0.0001