Fig. 4

Intracellular contents of typical astrocytes in the stratum lacunosum-moleculare. Representative 5 nm per pixel of resolution scanning electron microscopy images acquired in the ventral hippocampus CA1 stratum lacunosum-moleculare of 20-month-old C57BL/6J male mice (A) and APP-PS1 male mice far (B) and near (C) Aß plaques/dystrophic neurites. Quantitative graphs representing the number of phagosomes D per genotype (APP-PS1 vs C57BL/6J) and E per proximity to Aß plaques/dystrophic neurites. The number of fully digested phagosomes per astrocytic cell body based on the proximity to Aß plaques/dystrophic neurites is shown in F. Quantitative graphs represent the number of cells positive for glycogen granules per genotype (G) and per proximity to Aß plaques/dystrophic neurites (H). Data are shown as individual dots and are expressed as mean ± S.E.M. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p <  0.0001 using a non-parametric Mann–Whitney test for the comparison of phagosomes (D) and glycogen granules (H), and a Kruskal–Wallis test with a Dunn’s post hoc for all other graphs shown. Statistical tests were performed on n = 8–12 astrocytes per animal in N = 3 mice/group, for a total of 102 cell bodies analyzed. Red outline = plasma membrane, yellow outline = nuclear membrane, red arrow = glycogen granules, yellow pseudo-coloring = fully digested phagosomes