Fig. 2
Phagocytosis of E. coli by microglial cells treated with activin A and different TLR agonists. Comparison of E. coli K1 phagocytosis between microglial cells treated with activin A in concentrations of 0.13, 1.3, and 13 ng/ml in combination with the TLR2 agonist Pam3CSK4 (P3C; 0.1 μg/ml, a), the TLR4 agonist LPS (0.01 μg/ml, b), and the TLR9 agonist CpG (1 μg/ml, c), and microglial cells treated with the respective TLR agonist alone (n = 14–30 from up to seven experiments). Data were analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Dunn’s multiple comparison test (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001). In each experiment, the mean number of bacteria ingested by unstimulated control cells was defined as 100%. Phagocytic rates of the stimulated groups are presented as percentages of phagocytosis of an unstimulated control group (medians with interquartile ranges). Please mind the interrupted y-axis