Fig. 4

Microglial cells quantification in the nigrostriatal pathway. a Representative photomicrographs of Iba-1+ expression in SNpc and striatum (magnification × 10 (i–v) and × 20 (vi–xv), scale bar = 100 μm and 50 μm, respectively). b Iba-1+ cells density in the SNpc is significantly increase in MPTP (****p < 0.0001) and MPTP+PA (**p = 0.0040) groups compared to their No-MPTP groups. c In the striatum, microglial cells expression were significantly increase in MPTP (****p < 0.0001), MPTP+PA (*p = 0.0348), and MPTP+PA + NAC (**p = 0.0082). Interestingly, it can be observed that significant decrease is found in MPTP+NAC (****p < 0.0001) compared to MPTP group. d Representative micrographs from immunofluorescence under high magnification showing Iba-1+ cells in the SNpc of MPTP (i–ii) and MPTP+PA (iii–iv) groups (magnification × 63, scale bar = 25 μm)