Fig. 6

HFD effect on striatal CD11b⁺ cells of the sham, moderate, and severe lesion mice. A Brightfield images showing morphology and numbers of CD11b⁺ cells in sham, moderate, and severe lesion groups fed with either CTRL diet or HFD. B Quantification of striatal CD11b⁺ cell numbers in sham, moderate, and severe lesion groups fed with either CTRL diet or HFD. C Activation of CD11b⁺ cells presented as a ratio of branch density/cell body density in sham, moderate, and severe lesion groups fed with either CTRL diet or HFD. A lower ratio indicates higher activation. D Large confocal images showing the only location of CD11b⁺ cells (cyan) around the CD31⁺ vessels (red) within 20 μm distance from the vessel. Small confocal images showing the distribution of all CD11b⁺ cells around CD31⁺ vessels delineated with a dotted line indicating 20 μm distance from the vessel (upper image) or only CD11b⁺ cells (lower image). E 3D confocal representative images taken from the sham/HFD group illustrating the association between CD11b⁺ cells and CD31⁺ vessels, the upper image shows CD11b⁺ cell enwrapping CD31⁺ vessel; the lower image shows CD11b⁺ cell extending branches toward the CD31⁺ vessel. F Histogram showing the ratio of CD11b⁺ cell interaction points with CD31⁺ vessel density of total vessel density. Sham (CTRL diet: n = 5, HFD: n = 4), moderate lesion (CTRL diet: n = 3, HFD: n = 3), and severe lesion (CTRL diet: n = 6, HFD: n = 4). Two-way ANOVA: * p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. Scale bar: brightfield images, 20 μm; confocal images (large and small) 2D, 50 μm; 3D, 5 μm