Figure 1

AAV2/1 mediated expression of mIL-4 in TgCRND8 mice results in M2 phenotype. A-D. rAAV2/1-mIL-4 or rAAV2/1-EGFP (Control) was injected into the hippocampus of 4 month old TgCRND8 mice and analyzed after 6 weeks. Representative images of GFAP immunoreactivity in paraffin embedded whole brain sections (A, C) and higher magnification of the hippocampus (B, D) is shown. Scale Bar, 600 μm (A, C) and 25 μm (B, D). (n = 5-6/group). E-H. Representative images of Iba-1 immunoreactivity in paraffin embedded sections of 5.5 month old TgCRND8 mice injected with rAAV2/1 mIL-4 or rAAV2/1-EGFP (Control). Whole brain sections (E, G) and the corresponding hippocampus (F, H) are shown. Scale Bar, 600 μm (E, G) and 25 μm (F, H). (n = 5-6/group). I. Densitometric analysis of GFAP and Iba-1 immunostaining is shown. The hippocampal region was selected and Aperio “positive pixel count” program was used to measure percent positivity by averaging intensity of positive staining in the annotated region. (n = 4/group; p > 0.05, t test). Data represents mean ± sem. J-K. Representative immunoblot (J) and densitometric analysis of normalized levels of GFAP and cd11b (K) obtained from 5.5 month old TgCRND8 mice injected with rAAV2/1 mIL-4 or rAAV2/1-EGFP (n = 5/group; p > 0.05, t test). Data represents mean ± sem. L. Expression of glial activation markers and cytokines were determined in 5.5 month old mIL-4 expressing TgCRND8 mice compared to EGFP expressing age-matched controls using real time Q-PCR. Data, expressed as relative levels of mRNA expression, represents averaged fold change values obtained from mIL-4 expressing mice, relative to averaged values obtained from EGFP expressing mice. (n = 4/group; *p < 0.05, t test). Data represents mean ± sem.