Fig. 5: Effects of CA-SBEβCD NPs treatment on microglial and astrocyte activation in the brains of APP/PS1 mice.
APP/PS1 Tg mice and age-matched WT C57BL/6 mice were administered with CA-SBEβCD NPs (loaded with 10 or 30 mg/kg CA) or SBEβCD NPs (vehicle control) for 5 months. A Astrocytes in the hippocampus were detected by IHC with an anti-GFAP antibody. In the brains of Tg mice, astrocytes aggregated and exhibited somatic hypertrophy and thickening of the primary processes. Scale bars: 200 μm. B Quantification of the GFAP intensity in WT and Tg mice. C Representative confocal laser scanning microscopy images showing the distribution and localisation of activated astrocytes and Aβ plaques in the hippocampus. GFAP-labelled astrocytes (red) around Aβ plaques (green) are shown. Scale bars: 100 μm. D Double labelling for Iba1 (red) and Aβ (green) respectively shows the activated microglia and Aβ plaques in the hippocampus of the Tg mouse. Scale bars: 200 μm. The high-magnification images in the right panels correspond to the areas indicated in the boxes. Scale bars: 100 μm. E Quantification of the relative intensities of GFAP and Iba1. F The protein levels of GFAP, Iba1 and CD11b were examined by Western blot analysis. Blots were repeated at least three times for every condition. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001 vs vehicle-treated mice; ###p < 0.001 vs the WT mice by the one- or two-way ANOVA with post hoc Fisher’s LSD tests as appropriate. Values represent the mean ± SD. n = 6 in each group.
