Figure 4
Progression of microglia activation and reactive astrogliosis in different brain areas of APP SL transgenic mice over age. Activated microglia (CD11b staining; A, B) and reactive astrocytes (GFAP staining; C, D) in the hippocampus (A, C) and neocortex (B, D) of 6, 9, and 12-month-old APPSL mice are shown as the percentage of immunoreactive area (IR). n = 6/group. E: Representative images of CD11b (green) and GFAP (red) immunofluorescent double-labeling counterstained with DAPI in the subiculum of 6, 9, and 12-month-old APPSL mice and a 12-month-old non-transgenic littermate. Note the absence of gliosis in the non-transgenic littermate, while micro- and astroglia typically progressively and concomitantly circumvent amyloid plaques in APPSL mice at higher frequency with the increase of local plaque load. All data were analyzed by two way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s post hoc test. * significances between genotypes. + significances between age groups of APPSL transgenic mice. *P <0.05; **P <0.01; ***P <0.001. Scale bar: 100 μm. Abbreviations: neocortex: Ctx, corpus callosum: cc, subiculum: Sub., glial fibrillary acidic protein: GFAP, DAPI: 4′,6-Diamidin-2-phenylindol, analysis of variance: ANOVA, Amyloid Precursor protein carrying the Swedish London mutation: APPSL, probability: P.