Fig. 2

Microglia morphological responses in hippocampal and cortical subfields in chronic hypertensive SHRSP rats. Representative high-resolution images of 15–20 microglia cells of 4 fields of view per animal in the hippocampus (a) and in the cortex (j). Confocal three-dimensional reconstructions of IBA1⁺ microglia (green) in late chronic hypertension showing altered skeletal geometrical features and morphological changes induced by chronic hypertension in the hippocampus (b) and in the cortex (k). (c–f) Quantitative microglial morphological changes derived from 3D microglial reconstructions in the hippocampus and in (l-o) the cortex. 15–20 microglial cells were analyzed from 5 independent rodents for each group and brain region. Individual data points indicate averaged microglia data from an individual donor (c and l; soma area) or individual microglia within a defined region (d–f and m–o; endpoints, max branch length, and ramification index). (g) UMAP plot of microglia clusters based on major morphological features in the hippocampus and (p) the cortex. (h) Relative frequencies of microglia per cluster in the hippocampus and (q) the cortex. (i) Microglia morphological cluster distribution according to the phase of hypertension in the hippocampus and (r) the cortex. Data represent mean ± SEM. Ctrl, Controls; HTN, Hypertension. p-values: * ≤ 0.05; **for p ≤ 0.01; *** for p ≤ 0.001; **** for p ≤ 0.0001