Fig. 5

Histological evaluation of neuroinflammation and synaptic alterations in TgF344-AD rats. A Representative images showing astrocytes (green, GFAP) and microglia cells (red, Iba-1) in the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM). Nuclei were counterstained with DAPI (blue). Increased signal from GFAP (green) in the 4-month-old TgF344-AD rats. B Graphs represent the mean %area positive for GFAP (± SEM) (top) or %area positive for Iba-1 (± SEM) (bottom) for each brain region. Blue represents the wild-type (WT) animals, while orange represents the TgF344-rats. Dashed lines indicate significant genotype effects (black) or age effects (red). Solid lines indicate significant differences between genotypes (black) or ages (red) after the Student t-test (FDR p < 0.05) when genotype*age interaction was significant. C Graphs represent the mean vGLUT/vGAT ratio (top) and spot count of vAChT (bottom) (mean ± SEM). Blue represents the WT animals, while orange represents the TgF344-rats. Dashed lines indicate significant genotype effects (black) or age effects (red). D Representative images of the triple staining (vGLUT in green, vGAT in blue, vAChT in magenta) of three different regions in a representative 4-month-old WT rat. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. CG cingulate cortex, RSC retrosplenial cortex, Ent entorhinal cortex, SS somatosensory cortex, MS medial septum, HDB/SI horizontal limb of the diagonal band of Broca/substantia innominata, NBM nucleus basalis of Meynert, vAChT vesicular acetylcholine transporter, vGAT vesicular GABA transporter, vGlut vesicular glutamate transporter