Fig. 1

Iron accumulation was associated with hippocampal functional connectivity dysfunction in CUMS mice. A Seed-based analysis represented by functional connectivity maps for WT and CUMS mice. The strength of connectivity for the seed region, indicated above each image, is mapped by a colour scale representing the correlation coefficient (CC) value. (Control n = 6 and CUMS n = 7; abbreviations: CA1 = field of CA1 in the hippocampus, DG = dentate gyrus, PreSub = presubiculum, Sub = subiculum, vDG = ventral dentate gyrus). B Average interhemispheric functional connectivity for CA1, DG, PreSub, Sub, and vDG in Control and CUMS mice. C Intrahemispheric functional connectivity for the ipsilateral and contralateral seeds of CA1, DG, PreSub, Sub, and vDG in control and CUMS mice. D Pearson linear correlation tests for Fe levels in serum and interhemispheric FC in CA1, PreSub, and Sub. E Western blot analysis of the relative density ratios of TfR, Nrf2 and DMT1 expression in the hippocampus of the control and CUMS groups. GAPDH and β-Actin served as a loading control. The density of β-actin, GAPDH, TfR, Nrf2 and DMT1 protein was measured using ImageJ software. (Nrf2 and DMT1: n = 9/group; TfR: n = 12/group). F Electron microscopy image of excitatory/asymmetric spines (arrows point to the synaptic cleft, scale bars, 500 nm, n = 3 mice/group). Bars represent the mean ± SEM; statistical analysis was performed by using an unpaired two-tailed t test. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, and ****P < 0.0001