Fig. 2

Evaluation of the antidepressant activity of exosomes in vivo. The animal grouping and treatment strategy is shown in Table 1. a Behavioral test (OFT), which included horizontal movements (defined as at least three paws in a square), vertical movements (defined as at least three paws in a square) and exercise time (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, and ***P < 0.001 compared with the stress group; n = 5 mice per group). b Behavioral test (FST) (recorded immobile time in seconds) (*P < 0.05 compared with stress group; n = 5 mice per group). c Behavioral test (TST) (immobility was defined as hanging in a downright direction with only small movements) (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, and ***P < 0.001 compared with stress group; n = 5 mice per group). d The concentrations of inflammatory factors, IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α in the mouse brain were detected by ELISA (*P < 0.05 and ***P < 0.001 compared with the stress group; n = 5 mice per group). e The concentrations of monoamine factors, 5-HT, DA, and NE in the brain were detected by ELISA (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, and ***P < 0.001 compared with the stress group; n = 5 mice per group). f Quantification of GFAP-positive cells in the hippocampus of mice by immunohistochemical analysis. The unstressed group represents the hippocampus of unstressed mice; the fluoxetine group represents the hippocampus of stressed mice that were intravenously injected with fluoxetine; the stress group represents the hippocampus of stressed mice injected with normal saline; and the exo (unstress) group represents the hippocampus of stressed mice injected with exosomes from unstressed mice (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, and ***P < 0.001 compared with the stress group; n = 5 mice per group; bar = 50 μm). g Morphology of astrocytes in the hippocampus of mice analyzed with ImageJ software (*P < 0.05 compared with the stress group; n = 5 mice per group; bar = 20 μm)