Fig. 7

Voluntary physical exercise selectively affects plaque-associated GFAP-positive astrocytes in hippocampi. a Representative image of Aβ plaque (red) surrounded by a GFAP-positive astrocyte (green) in the hippocampus of a 5xFAD mice. Dotted circle displays a 50 μm area, within which GFAP-positive astrocytes were considered as plaque-associated. Number of primary branches (b) and soma area (c) were quantified for plaque-associated and distant GFAP-positive astrocytes in hippocampi of sedentary and exercised 5xFAD mice by using MicroTrac analysis platform. All data are presented as mean (± SEM). Two-way ANOVA used to measure exercise and plaque effect between 5xFAD-SED and 5xFAD-EXE mice followed by unpaired t test comparison in case of significant interaction between two factors (exercise*plaque). n = 8/group. «*» Plaque effect, «#» exercise effect: ***p < 0.001, #p < 0.05