Fig. 2: Transient microglia depletion during the peak of synapse engulfment prevents the normal development of mechanical hypersensitivity and protects dorsal horn synaptic connectivity.
From: Targeting C1q prevents microglia-mediated synaptic removal in neuropathic pain
a Diagram showing the timeline of drug treatment, SNI surgery, and behavioral tests. b Dorsal horn images labeled for Iba1 (green) from vehicle and drug (PLX3397) treated groups from the last day of treatment and after a 10-day wash-out period. c Quantification of the number of microglia in dorsal spinal cord (n = 6 mice per group; 3 mice per sex). d Pain behavior in neuropathic mice treated either with PLX3397 or vehicle (n = 16 mice per group; 8 mice per sex). e, f Quantifications of relative engulfment of inhibitory (e) and excitatory (f) terminals at 14 and 21 days-post SNI when microglia repopulate the spinal cord (n = 9 mice per group; 5 male mice and 4 female mice). g Representative SIM images of inhibitory synapses labeled with a pre-synaptic marker (VGAT; red) and a post-synaptic marker (gephyrin; blue) in different conditions. The inset within the first image is an enlarged view of an inhibitory synapse. h Representative SIM images of excitatory synapses labeled with a pre-synaptic marker (VGLUT2; cyan) and a post-synaptic (homer1; magenta) in different conditions. The inset within the first image is an enlarged view of an excitatory synapse. i Quantification of inhibitory synapse density (n = 30 mice per vehicle group; n = 20 mice per PLX3397 group; 10–15 mice per sex). j Quantification of inhibitory synapse density (n = 30 mice per vehicle group; n = 20 mice per PLX3397 group; 10–15 mice per sex). Means are plotted with individual data points ± SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 and ****p < 0.0001 analyzed with repeated measures two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc test (d) and two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc test (c, e, f, i, j). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
