Fig. 2

Immunohistochemical and ELISA analysis of the effects of FK506 on markers of neuro-inflammation in gp120 tg mice. Non-tg and gp120 tg mice were treated with vehicle or FK506 for 4 weeks, and serial vibratome sections were treated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and analyzed by digital bright-field microscopy. Representative images are shown from the fronto-temporal cortex. a Photomicrographs of GFAP-, Iba-1-, and IL6-positive astroglial cells in the fronto-temporal cortex of control and gp120 tg mice. b Image analysis of the sections showing increase GFAP in gp120 mice vehicle-treated mice, and treatment of gp120 mice with FK506 significantly decreased astrogliosis compared to vehicle-treated gp120 mice. c Image analysis of microglial marker Iba-1 showed that vehicle-treated gp120 mice had a statistically significant fold-increase in microgliosis compared to vehicle-treated non-tg mice. Treatment with FK506 significantly reduced the microgliosis in gp120 mice compared to vehicle-treated gp120 mice. d Image analysis of cytokine IL6 indicated a statistically significant increase in IL6-immunoreactivity in vehicle-treated gp120 mice compared to non-tg mice. FK506 significantly reduced IL6 levels in gp120 mice compared to vehicle-treated gp120 mice. e ELISA assay analysis of levels of IL6 in non-tg and gp120 tg mice treated with vehicle and FK506 showed a statistically significant increase in vehicle-treated gp120 mice compared to non-tg vehicle-treated mice which FK506 treatment significantly reduced. Scale bar = 25 μm. *p value <0.05 by one-way ANOVA and post hoc Dunnett’s compared to vehicle; ^# p value <0.05 by one-way ANOVA and Tukey-Krammer post hoc test compared to vehicle-treated gp120 mice; N = 10; age = 12 months of age