Fig. 4

Peripheral-immune EphA4 deficiency enhances efferocytosis of PDMs and microglia in the damaged cortex following CCI injury. Serial coronal sections of WT^+WTBMCs and WT^+KOBMCs mice were stained with IBA1 (red) (A, B), NeuN (red), and IBA1 (gray) (E, F), or TUNEL and IBA1 (I, J). A, B Representative images showing microglia (IBA1 + /GFP −) engulfing GFP + cells (A, left) and containing 2 + nuclei (A, right) or PDM (IBA1 + /GFP +) containing 2 + nuclei (B). C, D quantification of microglia and PDM containing 2 + nuclei in the core and peri-lesion at 3dpi. E, F Microglia (arrowhead) and PDM (arrow) engulfing NeuN + neurons. G, H Quantification of microglia and PDM engulfing NeuN + neurons. I, J Microglia (arrowhead) and PDM (arrow) engulfing TUNEL + nuclei. K Quantification of microglia and PDM containing at least one TUNEL + nuclei and one TUNEL-DAPI + nuclei in the core at 3dpi. N = 4–6 mice/group. ns = non-significant; *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001. Multiple t-tests. Scale bar = 20 µm in E and 100 µm in I