Fig. 3: The astrocytic engulfment of microglial debris is positively correlated with the speed of microglial turnover under both physiological and pathological conditions in vivo. | Nature Communications

Fig. 3: The astrocytic engulfment of microglial debris is positively correlated with the speed of microglial turnover under both physiological and pathological conditions in vivo.

From: Microglial debris is cleared by astrocytes via C4b-facilitated phagocytosis and degraded via RUBICON-dependent noncanonical autophagy in mice

Fig. 3

a Scheme of the in vivo examination of astrocytic engulfment in different brain regions of ALDH1L1-CreER::Ai14 mice under physiological conditions. b, c Astrocytes in the cortex engulfed less microglial debris than those in the hippocampus and olfactory bulb. N = 6 mice for each group. One-way ANOVA with Holm‒Sidak’s multiple comparisons test (post hoc). The quantitative results (c) show the results from the reanalysis of the same data from the D19 group in Fig. 1d. d Scheme of the in vivo examination of astrocytic engulfment under pathological conditions in 5xFAD mice at 8 and 20 months of age. e, f Astrocytes in the plaque proximal regions phagocytose more microglial debris than those in the plaque distal regions. N = 5 mice for each group. Two-tailed independent t test. Ctx cortex; Hipp hippocampus, OB olfactory bulb, Prox plaque proximal, Dis plaque distal. Data are presented as mean ± SD. The source data are provided as a Source Data file.

Back to article page