Fig. 1: The androgen receptor is strongly up-regulated in the LPC-demyelinated corpus callosum from female but not male mice.

a Scheme of the experimental protocol. b, c Differential detection of AR transcripts in the corpus callosum (cc), but not cortex (Cx) from LPC-injected females or males. Dashed lines delineate the demyelinated area. d AR signal quantification in the lesions. e Double AR ISH (left) and Iba1, GFAP or Olig2 immunostainings (middle) and, merge images (right) in the female demyelinated lesions. The white arrows show a high number of AR-expressing microglial cells compared to a more restricted number of AR⁺GFAP⁺ astrocytes or AR⁺Olig2⁺ oligodendroglia. The white arrowheads indicate AR-expressing cells clearly devoid of GFAP or Olig2 markers. The boxed areas are magnified in the insets. f, g Visualization of cells co-expressing either the AR protein or the DHT ligand with Iba1 marker. The white arrows show microglia co-expressing nuclear/perinuclear AR f and nuclear DHT staining g. In g, microglial or non-microglial (white and yellow arrowheads, respectively) cells displaying a perinuclear DHT labeling or cells expressing none of the markers (yellow arrow) are shown. h Quantification of the percentage of Iba1⁺ cells displaying a nuclear (Nuc) or perinuclear (Perinuc) labeling. i Co-vizualization of AR transcripts with Iba1 or GFAP immunostainings in the demyelinated corpus callosum (dotted line) from LPC-injected male mice. The boxes are cortical (yellow) and callosal (white) areas magnified in the corresponding inset. j, k Triple labeling of female or male lesions using Iba1 immunostaining with Esr1 and Esr2 ISH. The lesions are delineated by the dashed lines. The boxed areas are magnified in the insets. Esr2 can be observed colocalized or not with Esr1. l, m Quantification of Esr1 and Esr2 signals. Scale bars (µm): 100 b, c, i–k, 50 e, 10 f, g. Data are mean values±SEM from n = 4 d, l, m or n = 5 h animals/condition examined over two independent experiments. P values d, h, l, m were calculated using the unpaired two-tailed t-test with Welch’s correction d, l; **p = 0.001 d, p = 0.003 l; ****p < 0.0001 h. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.