Fig. 4

EAE-induced microglia/macrophage response is not amplified in the LEWzizi CNS despite pre-existing microglia activation. a-d Area fraction analysis of Iba-1 (a), CD68 (b), iNOS (c) and p22phox (d) immunohistochemical stainings of lumbar spinal cord cross sections of 4-month-old (4 M) Lewis and LEWzizi rats at the peak (day 6) and during the recovery phase (day 10) of EAE. The percentage of positively labelled area is depicted. e Inflammatory lesions with perivascular cuffs and parenchymal infiltrates stained for Iba-1, CD68, p22phox and iNOS. Representative pictures were taken from lumbar spinal cord cross sections of 4 M Lewis and LEWzizi rats, both injected with Lewis T cells, at the peak of EAE. Scale bars, 50 μm. f Quantification of parenchymal CD68⁺ cells within the mesencephalon of 4 M Lewis and LEWzizi rats at the peak of EAE. g Representative areas in the mesencephalon of 4 M Lewis and LEWzizi rats, each injected with Lewis T cells, at the peak of EAE. Pictures were taken from tissue sections stained for Iba-1, CD68, p22phox and TMEM119 (LEWzizi only). Scale bars, 50 μm. a-d; f Graphs represent mean ± SD. Red lines indicate the mean ± SD of age-matched naïve Lewis or LEWzizi controls. Experimental groups comprise 6–8 rats each. Statistics result from two-way ANOVAs (separate analyses for day 6 and day 10) reporting (i) differences between Lewis EAE rats and LEWzizi EAE rats by black bars and (ii) differences between naïve controls rats and EAE rats by orange bars. Data were pooled according to rat genotype and independent of T cell genotype. *, p-value < 0.05; **, p-value < 0.01; ***, p-value < 0.001; ****, p-value < 0.0001; ns, not significant