Fig. 1

Distinct morphological features of microglia, including enlarged somata thickened processes, and increased territorial volume, observed in post-mortem tissue from patients with cerebral small vessel disease. (a) Representative overview and micrographs of individual vessel associated microglia (VAMs) in post-mortem tissue of aged controls and (b) cSVD individuals. (c) Representative micrographs of individual IBA1⁺ microglia of aged controls and (d) cSVD individuals. (e) Quantification of microglia density within a defined area of 1,013,205 µm³ standardized to 1 mm². (f) Quantification of VAMs within the defined region. (g–i) Quantification of different morphological features of microglia (soma size, average branch area and ramification index). Individual data points indicate averaged microglia data from an individual donor (e, f) or individual microglia within the defined region (g–i). Columns and error bars show mean ± SEM; (a–f), n = 5 controls, n = 4 cSVD subjects. (g–i), n = 145 microglia in age-matched controls, n = 222 microglia in cSVD. p-values: * ≤ 0.05; ** for p ≤ 0.01; *** for p ≤ 0.001; (scale bar overview image = 100 µm; single cell = 25 µm)