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Fig. 7 | Acta Neuropathologica Communications

Fig. 7

From: Environmental enrichment reverses Aβ pathology during pregnancy in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease

Fig. 7

Environmental enrichment during pregnancy and lactation rescues Aβ plaque pathology in 5xFAD mice. a Schematic overview of the experimental setup. Twelve weeks old 5xFAD female mice were mated and either housed in standard housing (SH) or in environmental enrichment (EE) until they were sacrificed at postpartum day 20 (P20). b Fluorescence microscopy of Aβ (red) and DAPI (blue). Shown are representative images of hippocampi from pregnant/lactating female 5xFAD mice housed in SH or EE and non-pregnant females housed in SH. c Quantification of Aβ plaque load (left) and compact Aβ plaque load (right) of pregnant/lactating 5xFAD mice housed in SH or EE displayed significant decreases in the number of Aβ plaques after housing in EE. Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Dunn’s multiple comparison test, *P = 0.039, *P = 0.03. d Fluorescence microscopy of Aβ (red) and DAPI (blue). Shown are representative images of the cortex from pregnant/lactating female 5xFAD mice at P20 housed in SH or EE and non-pregnant females housed in SH. e Quantification of Aβ plaque load in the cortex of pregnant/lactating 5xFAD mice at P20 exhibited significant decreases in mice housed in EE. Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Dunn’s multiple comparison test, *P = 0.024, *P = 0.017. f Fluorescence microscopy of DCX (green) and DAPI (blue). Shown are representative images of the dentate gyrus from pregnant 5xFAD female mice housed in SH or EE sacrificed at P20. g Quantification of DCX positive cells in pregnant/lactating 5xFAD mice showed significant increases in mice housed in EE. Mann-Whitney test, *P = 0.015. h Fluorescence microscopy of Ki67 (green) and DAPI (blue). Shown are representative images of the dentate gyrus from pregnant female 5xFAD mice housed in SH or EE. i Analysis of Ki67 positive cells in pregnant/lactating 5xFAD mice revealed significant increases in mice housed in EE. Mann-Whitney test, *P = 0.015. Inserts show higher magnifications. White arrows indicate Ki67 positive cells. Scale bar represents 500 μm in (b and d) and 100 μm in (f and h) and 20 μm in the insert. Data are presented as mean ± S.D. Each symbol represents data from one mouse, with four to six mice per group. SH = standard housing, EE = environmental enrichment, DCX = doublecortin, P = postpartum day

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