Fig. 5

PLX-5622 treatment prevents neurodegeneration and vascular damage in the diabetic CX3CR1-WT retina. A Experimental design to deplete microglia in 6–8 weeks diabetic CX3CR1-WT mice with PLX-5622. Diabetes was induced via streptozotocin (STZ) in CX3CR1-WT mice and at 6–8 weeks of diabetes, mice were fed PLX-5622 chow for 2 weeks. Tissues were collected immediately following the 2-week treatment. Diabetic control mice were fed normal chow (NC). B Confocal images of Iba1 (green) in retinas of non-diabetic, diabetic-normal chow and diabetic PLX-5622 chow mice. C Quantification of Iba1⁺ cells/mm³. D, E, Representation of Iba1⁺ cellular tracings (D) from transformation index quantification (E). F Confocal images of TUJ1 (turquoise) in retinas of non-diabetic, diabetic-normal chow and diabetic PLX-5622 treated mice. G Quantification of TUJ1⁺ percent immunoreactive area. H–J Confocal images of retinas stained for CD31 (red) and fibrinogen (white) (H) and image quantification of percent immunoreactive area for CD31 (I) and fibrinogen (J). Data show mean ± SD, n = 8–10 mice per group where each dot represents an individual mouse (C, G, I, J). Data are mean ± SD, n = 52–150 microglia per group where each dot represents an individual microglia cell from n = 4–10 mice (E). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 ****P < 0.0001 using Student’s t-test, with Welch’s correction