Fig. 4
Intragastric Administration of SCFAs Reduces Ethanol-Induced Neuroinflammation. Male UChB rats, voluntarily consuming 10% ethanol for 58 days, were treated with either: (1) a combination of SCFAs (300 mg/kg each of sodium acetate, sodium propionate, and sodium butyrate) or (2) a sodium chloride (NaCl) solution (554 mg/kg, vehicle) by oral gavage twice daily for five days. A third group of untreated animals drinking only water (naïve) was used as a control. (A) Representative confocal micrographs showing GFAP immunoreactivity (green) in the CA1 stratum radiatum of the hippocampus under the three experimental conditions. Nuclei are counterstained with DAPI (cyan). Scale bar: 25 μm. (B) Magnified view of the region highlighted by the rectangle in (A). Scale bar: 10 μm. (C) Microglial Iba-1 immunoreactivity (red) and DAPI (cyan). Scale bar: 25 μm. (D) Magnified view of the region highlighted by the rectangle in (C). (E) Quantification of astrocyte surface area. (F) Quantification of the total length of astrocytic processes. (G) Quantification of the astrocytic ramification index. (H) Quantification of microglial solidity. Data are presented as mean ± SEM based on six microphotographs/hemisphere (N = 6 animals per group). Statistical significance was determined using one-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni post-hoc test. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ****p < 0.0001.
