Fig. 5

Microglia-conditioned media affect key neural stem cell (NSC) functions. **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 compared to control; ^#p < 0.05, ^##p < 0.01 compared to different experimental group as marked by horizontal bar; only relevant significant values are highlighted. a Representative images of neurospheres grown for 48 h in the presence of microglia-conditioned medium obtained from “M1” microglia exposed to LPS (10 ng/ml), “M2” microglia exposed to IL4 (50 ng/ml), “hybrid” microglia exposed to LPS plus IL4, or “untreated” microglia that had not been subjected to any inflammatory stimulus; scale bar = 50 μm. b Ratio of viable versus dead NSCs subjected to microglia-conditioned media as assessed by live/dead assay (n = 5, H(6) = 70.833, p < 0.001). Representative immunocytochemical images: all cells regardless of viability were stained by Hoechst (blue); dead cells were identified by propidium iodide incorporation (red); scale bar = 20 μm. c Proliferation rate of NSCs subjected to microglia-conditioned media as measured by BrdU incorporation (n = 7, H(6) = 218.951, p < 0.001). Representative immunocytochemical images: BrdU (green) identified proliferating cells, Hoechst as nuclear counterstain (blue); scale bar = 20 μm. d The migratory potential of NSCs subjected to microglia-conditioned media as assessed by Boyden chamber assay (n = 5, H(6) = 64.214, p < 0.001)