Fig. 5

Profound micro- and astrogliosis in the rNLS8 model are unchanged upon vaccination with TDP-43 peptides. Using an automated staining and analysis pipeline, microglia (Iba1) and astrocyte (GFAP) signals were quantified in hippocampal regions. Representative immunofluorescence images of Iba1 (A) or GFAP (B)-stained hippocampal regions. Magnified insets are shown on the top right corner and their position in the overview is indicated by dashed rectangles. Scale bar overview = 500 µm, scale bar inset = 50 µm. Right panels show automated quantification of the Iba1 (A) and GFAP (B) cell count per area, followed by normalization to the ctrl PBS group. Mean values are plotted as black dots. Pairwise Wilcoxon test with Benjamini–Hochberg correction revealed an increased Iba1 count in the TDP-PBS group when compared to ctrl PBS animals (p = 0.011). GFAP counts were analyzed using pairwise t-test with Benjamini–Hochberg correction and were statistically different between TDP-PBS and ctrl PBS mice (p = 2.04*10^–5). None of the vaccinated groups are significantly different from TDP-PBS. Control (ctrl) PBS n = 6, TDP-PBS n = 6, TDP5 + 7 n = 6, TDP8 + 9 n = 6, TDP10 + 12 n = 5, and TDP15 n = 5