Fig. 2

Chronic restraint stress (CRS)-induced alterations in components of central cholinergic signaling in hippocampus. a Doubleimmunolabeling showed that α7nAChR colocalized primarily with NeuN⁺ neurons and to a lesser extent with GFAP + astrocytes and Iba-1⁺ microglia in the hippocampus; scale bar, 30 μm. b Representative immunoblots and relative levels of α7nAChR protein in hippocampus. Results are shown as fold change relative to GAPDH protein level. c Representative immunoblots and relative levels of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) protein in hippocampus. Results are shown as fold change relative to GAPDH protein level. d Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in hippocampus at different time points of CRS. e Representative immunoblots and relative levels of STAT3 protein in hippocampus. Results are shown as fold change relative to histone1 protein level. Con, control group. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM. n = 8 per group; *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 vs. control group