Fig. 9

Tryptophan alleviates neurotoxic astrocyte responses in gp120tg mice. A Colocalization of GFAP (red) and C3 (green) cells in the hippocampus from mice treated with PBS or tryptophan (scale bar: 100 μm). The white rectangles mark the magnified area. High-magnification images showed co-staining with GFAP and C3 (scale bar: 10 μm). White arrows indicate the GFAP⁺/C3⁺ cells (F_{3, 16} = 20.78, P < 0.0001). B C3 and GFAP protein levels in the brain lysates as determined by Western blot (F_{1, 12} = 8.631, P = 0.0025; F_{3, 20} = 8.846, P = 0.0006, respectively). C Alterations of A1-specific genes. D The mRNA levels of Il-1α, Il-1β, Il-6, and Tnf-α in hippocampus. E Serum levels of Il-1β, Il-6, and Tnf-α as measured by ELISA. In A, B, D, E, data are presented as mean ± SEM. In C, values are shown in the box and whisker plot, where the line in the box corresponds to the median. Throughout, data are analyzed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons. n = 5 mice per group. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 compared to WT mice. ^$P < 0.05, ^$$P < 0.01, ^$$$P < 0.001 compared to 12-month-old gp120tg mice treated with PBS