Fig. 3

Inflammatory reaction of astrocytes and microglia in the nigrostriatal pathway. a Four months post-transplant, rostral striatal GFAP + area was similar in control and buffer-treated animals, and tended to be higher on the CL side to the transplant in hNSC-transplanted mice, although this was only statistically significant when compared to the CL rostral Str of buffer-treated (#P = 0.0102) and control (*P = 0.0170) animals. Expression of GFAP in the IL rostral Str in hNSC-treated mice was increased compared to the rostral Str of all control (****P < 0.0001) and buffer-treated (####P < 0.0001) animals, and to a lesser extent compared to the CL rostral Str of those that received cells (**P = 0.0088). Control n = 3, MPTP + buffer n = 5, MPTP + cell n = 5. b In the SNpc, Iba1 expression tended to be higher in all MPTP-treated mice compared to controls, reaching statistical significance in the case of the IL rostral Str of those treated with buffer (*P = 0.0345 vs. Control IL) and the CL rostral Str of hNSC-transplanted animals (*P = 0.0123 vs. Control IL and *P = 0.0194 vs. Control CL). These Iba1 + microglia were small, round and ramified, and soma size and roundness were not altered across all experimental groups. Control n = 3, MPTP + buffer n = 5, MPTP + cell n = 5. a, b One-way ANOVA followed by Tukey´s post-hoc test. * = compared to same brain hemisphere of Control, # = compared to same brain hemisphere of MPTP + buffer. Scale bar a = 50 μm and scale bars b = 50 μm (left images) and 10 μm (right zoom images). IL = ipsilateral, CL = contralateral, hNSC = human neural stem cell, Str = striatum, SNpc = substantia nigra pars compacta