Fig. 4: Global microglial ablation using PLX3397 results in significantly reduced capillary red blood cell flux.

a Top image- maximum intensity projection showing a capillary (magenta) at baseline from which a line scan was acquired, as indicated by the white line. Middle image- maximum intensity projection showing that exact same capillary from baseline following 8 days of PLX3397 administration (PLX), from which a line scan was acquired again, as indicated by the white line. Note the absence of CX3CR1-eGFP+ cells. Bottom image- maximum intensity projection showing that exact same capillary from baseline but at 8 days following PLX3397 withdrawal (WTDL), from which a line scan was acquired again, as indicated by the white line. b Representative line scan kymographs from the generated line scans shown in a, where baseline is shown on the left, day 8 PLX in the middle, and day 8 WTDL on the right (labeled as baseline, PLX, WTDL- respectively). c Left, before-and-after plot showing averaged values of capillary red blood cell flux in capillaries that demonstrated reduced flux following 8 days of PLX3397 administration. n = 16 capillaries/4 mice, with all mice being in the same acquisition cohort. One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. Baseline vs. PLX, p < 0.0436; Baseline vs. WTDL, p < 0.2684; PLX vs. WTDL, p < 0.4553. Right, raw values used to generate the before-and-after plot on the left. d Left, before-and-after plot showing averaged values of capillary red blood cell flux in capillaries that demonstrated increased flux following 8 days of PLX3397 administration. n = 7 capillaries/3 mice. One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. Baseline vs. PLX, p < 0.0479; Baseline vs. WTDL, p < 0.9995; PLX vs. WTDL, p < 0.6486. Right, raw values used to generate the before-and-after plot on the left. e Pie chart showing that 75% of capillaries in this study demonstrated reduced flux following 8 days of PLX3397 administration (magenta), while 25% demonstrated increased flux following 8 days of PLX3397 administration (green). Source data are provided as a source data file.