Fig. 5
Germ-free environment results in a reduction in GFAP + astrocyte intensity and PAAs in male APPPS1-21 mice. (A) Experimental schematic. (B) Representative merged (a, d), GFAP (b, e) and Aβ (c, f) immunosignal images from specific pathogen free (SPF) raised males (a-c) and germ-free (GF) raised males (d-f). (C) Quantification of GFAP + astrocytes/µm2. (D) GFAP + astrocyte percent area. (E) GFAP mean intensity. (F) Plaque-associated astrocytes/µm2. (G) Plaque-associated astrocyte percent area. (H) Plaque-associated astrocytes/µm2 normalized to Aβ plaques/µm2 in SPF male and GF male APPPS1-21 mice. M = male. Data expressed as mean ± standard deviation. SPF M N = 9, GF M N = 10. Statistics calculated using two-tailed unpaired student’s t-tests. 4 sections used per animal. * denotes a p-value ≤ 0.05, ** indicates p-value ≤ 0.01, *** indicates p-value ≤ 0.001, and **** indicates a p-value of ≤ 0.0001. Scale bar indicates 100 µm