Fig. 3

CKD induction promoted microglial activation and blood–brain barrier (BBB) disruption. A, B Significantly higher Iba-1 immunoreactivity, expressed as % of Iba-1 immunoreactive area, in CKD mice compared with CTL mice. C Number of microglia within the two states (resting and activated) expressed as a proportion of the total number of microglia was quantified. CKD mice showed decreased number of resting microglia and increased number of activated microglia compared with CTL mice. D, E Fibrinogen immunoreactivity, expressed as % of immunoreactive area, was significantly higher in CKD mice compared with CTL mice. F Representative immunohistochemical images of Iba-1 (left: 20× objective, scale bar = 100 μm; middle: 40× objective, scale bar = 50 μm) and fibrinogen (right: 20× objective, scale bar = 100 μm) in the thalamus. Data shown are mean ± SEM. n = 15–17 per sex per group. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001