Fig. 6

Polarized microglia differentially affect NSCs differentiation fate. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 compared to control; ^#p < 0.05, ^##p < 0.01, ^###p < 0.001 compared to different experimental group as marked by horizontal bar; only relevant significant values are highlighted. a Differentiation speed of NSCs subjected to microglia-conditioned media upon mitogen withdrawal as assessed by loss of “sex determining region Y-box 2” (SOX2) immunoreactivity (n = 6, H(6) = 123.685, p < 0.001); representative images stained for SOX2 (green), identifying undifferentiated NSCs, with Hoechst (blue) as nuclear counterstain; scale bar = 20 μm. b Neurogenic potential of NSCs subjected to microglia-conditioned media as assessed by “neuron specific beta-III tubulin 1” (TuJ1) immunocytochemistry (n = 6, H(6) = 80.356, p < 0.001); representative images stained for TuJ1 (green), identifying young neurons, with Hoechst (blue) as nuclear counterstain; scale bar = 20 μm. c Generation of astrocytes from NSCs subjected to microglia-conditioned media (n = 6, H(6) = 114.744, p < 0.001); representative images stained for “glial fibrillary acidic protein” (GFAP; red), identifying astrocytes, with Hoechst (blue) as nuclear counterstain; scale bar = 20 μm. d Generation of oligodendrocytes from NSCs subjected to microglia-conditioned media (n = 6, H(6) = 37.860, p < 0.001); representative images stained for “2′,3′-cyclic-nucleotide 3′-phosphodiesterase” (CNPase; green), identifying oligodendrocytes, with Hoechst (blue) as nuclear counterstain; scale bar = 20 μm