Fig. 1

Chronic nicotine exposure alters ACC microglial morphology. A Schematic timeline of administration with L-tartaric acid and nicotine. B Changes of PWT and PWL in vehicle- and nicotine-treated mice C Representations from Paxinos & Franklin mouse atlas of regions of interest analysed. Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and Nucleus accumbens (NAc). D Representative imaging and 3D remodeling of Iba-1-labelled microglia in the Nucleus accumbens (NAc) of vehicle- and nicotine-treated mice after 28 days. Scale bars, 40 μm (overview) and 10 μm (Zoom and Rendering). E Quantification of Iba-1⁺ number and intensity in the NAc F Quantification of Iba-1⁺ soma size and Imaris-based semi-automatic quantification of Iba-1⁺ microglia morphometry in the NAc. G Representative imaging and 3D remodeling of Iba-1-labelled microglia in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) of vehicle- and nicotine-treated mice after 28 days. Scale bars, 40 μm (overview) and 10 μm (Zoom and Rendering). H Quantification of Iba-1⁺ number, intensity, soma size and Imaris-based semi-automatic quantification of Iba-1⁺ microglia morphometry in the ACC. Data were presented as mean ± SEM or Median (IQR). *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; ns not significant. Details of the statistical analyses are presented in Additional file 1: Table S1