Fig. 3

Increased microglial phagocytosis in the hippocampus of 4 months old GF 5xFAD mice. (a) Representative immunofluorescence images of TR⁺ (red) Aβ depositions and Iba1⁺ (green) microglia on coronal hippocampal sections of SPF, GF and ABX-treated 5xFAD mice and age-matched WT controls. Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). Scale bar: 50 μm. Quantification of (b) Iba1⁺ parenchymal microglia in hippocampus of 5xFAD and age-matched WT mice. Quantification of (c) TR⁺ plaque-associated microglia in 5xFAD mice. Each symbol represents one mouse. Data are presented as mean ± s.e.m. Significant differences were determined by two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s post-hoc comparison test or by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post-hoc comparison test (**P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001). Data are representative of four independent experiments. (d) Gating of CD11b⁺methoxy-XO-4⁺ microglia from SPF, GF and ABX-treated 5xFAD mice and age-matched WT controls. Representative dot plots are shown. (e) Representative cytometric graph of methoxy-X-O4⁺ labelled microglia from SPF (black line), GF (red line) and ABX-treated (blue line) 5xFAD mice and respective WT controls (dashed lines). (f) Quantification of percentages of methoxy-X-O4⁺ labelled microglia cells are depicted. Each symbol represents one mouse. Data are presented as mean ± s.e.m. Significant differences were determined by two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s post-hoc comparison test (***P < 0.001). Data are representative of four independent experiments