Fig. 3

Depletion of microglia decreased the infarct volume and neuronal degeneration 3 days after ischemic stroke. (a) Representative Nissl stained coronal brain slice of vehicle-treated mouse after stroke (scale bar = 1 mm). (b) Coronal sections in accordance to the boxed region in (a) illustrating the whole infarct (scale bar = 2 mm). (c) Representative Nissl stained coronal brain slice of microglia-depleted mouse after stroke (scale bar = 1 mm). (d) Coronal sections in accordance to the boxed region in (c) illustrating the whole infarct (scale bar = 2 mm). (e) Calculated brain infarct volumes 3 days post stroke, in mice with Ta and DT treatment or not (n ≥ 6, **p < 0.01). (f) Representative confocal images of FJC-labeled degenerating neurons in the ischemic areas of stroke^Ta−DT− and stroke^Ta+DT+ mice. The boundaries between ischemic area and normal tissue were delineated by the dashed lines (scale bar = 50 μm). (g) Densities of degenerating neurons in the border area underwent microglia depletion or not. Note that neurodegeneration greatly decreased in microglia-devoid mice 3 days after stroke (n ≥ 3, **p < 0.01)