Fig. 9

Postnatal alcohol exposure (PAE) decreases resting microglia on P6. The effect of PAE on microglial morphology in the hippocampus during the first withdrawal period on P4 (a), the third withdrawal period on P6 (b), and also on P45 (c) (as shown in Fig. 1a). Representative images of the hippocampus are stained for ionized calcium-binding adapter protein molecule 1(IBA-1, red) to label microglia and 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI, blue) to label cell nuclei. Microglial morphology was quantified as resting, transitional 1 (T1), transitional 2 (T2), or amoeboid as shown in Fig. 5. The proportion of microglia exhibiting each morphology was quantified. Since no significant differences were found in activation, morphology by region was not analyzed. Asterisks represent significance by post hoc test. (*p < 0.05). n = 4 animals from 4 litters. Scale bars are 40 and 10 μm for low and high magnification images, respectively. Stratum pyramidale (SP) of the CA1 region and the granule cell layer (GCL) of the dentate gyrus (DG) are labeled in the images