Fig. 3

DHEA exerted an anti-inflammatory effect by regulating microglial activation in vivo and in vitro. Co-localization of Iba-1 and CD86 or CD206 demonstrated a switch from proinflammatory to anti-inflammatory activation in the presence of a DHEA after SAH in the piriform and b Hb exposure in vitro. Magnified views are marked with dashed line boxes. c TNF-α levels in the CM from various treatment microglia was tested by ELISA (n = 4, t test between Hb and Hb + DHEA). d The positive cell count (histogram, left Y-axis) and positive cell proportion (polygram, right Y-axis) of Iba-1⁺ and CD86⁺/CD206⁺ from b piriform and c in vitro (n = 6 fields, 400 × 400 μm, t test for comparison between SAH/Hb and SAH/Hb + DHEA; *P, #P, §P < 0.05, **P, ##P, §§P < 0.01, ***P, ###P, §§§P < 0.001, ns, not significant). Hb, haemoglobin; Green, Iba-1; red, CD86; cyan, CD206; blue, DAPI; bar = 70 μm