Fig. 4

Effects of TNEA on the autophagic recognition/degradation of ASC specks in the hippocampi of 5xFAD mice. A Representative IHC staining images of ASC (green), SQSTM1/p62 (red), nuclei (Hoechst, blue) and their colocalization in the hippocampal CA3 of mice from each group. Scale bar: 100 μm. 4× magnified images were shown for the selected area. Negative controls are shown in Additional file 1: Fig. S3. B Images were processed using ImageJ to quantify the average area of ASC, SQSTM1 and their colocalization (divided by the area of Hoechst). Data are quantified as mean ± SEM (male, n = 4) and analyzed by one-way ANOVA. **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 vs. 5xFAD group. C Representative IHC staining images of ASC (green), cathepsin D (CTSD, red), nuclei (Hoechst, blue) and their colocalization in the hippocampal CA3 of mice from each group. Scale bar: 100 μm. 4× magnified images were shown for the selected area. Negative controls are shown in Additional file 1: Fig. S3. D Images were processed using ImageJ to quantify the average area of ASC, CTSD and their colocalization (divided by the area of Hoechst). Data are quantified as mean ± SEM (male, n = 5) and analyzed by one-way ANOVA. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 vs. 5xFAD group