Figure 1.

Enhanced expression of C3 in U251 astrocytes after treatment with the cytokines TNF-α (30 ng/mL), IL-1α (3 ng/mL) and C1q (400 ng/mL) for 24 h. (A) Representative fluorescence microscopy images of untreated U251 astrocytes (Control) and A1-like astrocytes induced by the treatment with a cocktail of cytokines stained with the anti-C3 antibody, as indicated in the Materials and Methods. All images were acquired with the same exposure time (0.3 s) using the Hamamatsu HCImage software of the fluorescence microscope. BF and GF stand for bright field and green fluorescence, respectively. The size of scale bars included in the microscopy images is 25 μm. (B) Mean ± SEM (standard error of the means) values of the fluorescence intensity of the soma of the Control (n = 21 cells) and A1-like astrocytes (n = 46 cells) stained with the anti-C3 antibody. Statistical analysis was carried out using the Student’s t-test. (*) p < 0.05 with respect to the Control.