Involvement of Microglia Activation in the Lead Induced Long-Term Potentiation Impairment
Figure 2
Effects of hippocampal neuronal injury and microglia activation induced by Pb in the hippocampus.
Microglia activation was detected by immunocytochemistry (OX42). (A) control; (B) 100 ppm Pb for 8 weeks. Activation of microglia was evaluated by counting the number of activated microglial cells (B blue arrow); White arrows (A) indicate resting microglia. (C) The results were quantified and are expressed as the mean ± S.D. of average activated cell rate in random fields (n = 20). * P<0.05 compared with control groups. Scale bar indicates 50 µm. Hippocampal neuronal injury was detected with in situ TUNEL (green fluorescence). (K) The apoptotic neurons in the Pb group were significantly higher than the control group (G). Hippocampal neuronal injury was evaluated by analyze the number of apoptotic neurons of each group. (L) The results were quantified and are expressed as the mean ± S.D. of apoptotic neurons in DG zone of hippocampus (n = 8). * P<0.05 compared with control groups. Scale bar indicates 50 µm.