Figure 2

Loss of A20 leads to spontaneous microglia and astrocyte activation. Representative (A) F4/80 and (C) GFAP immunohistochemistry (brown) in the cerebral cortex (CX) and hippocampus (HC) of A20 wild type (WT), heterozygous (HT) and knockout (KO) mice. Yellow arrows indicate hypertrophied activated microglia, noted by their stout, dense appearance with shorter and thicker branched projections. Blue arrows indicate reactive astrocytes displaying thick cell bodies and processes, evident in the outer layers of the CX and throughout the HC. Photomicrographs are representative of three animals per genotype. Bar = 20 μm, magnification = 400x. (B) A1 and (D) GFAP mRNA levels measured by qPCR. Graph shows relative mRNA levels after normalization with mRNA levels of housekeeping gene βactin. Results are expressed as mean ± SEM of five to seven animals per genotype. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001.