Figure 3.

The loss of Tusc2 causes increases in brain-resident immune cells. (A) Representative contour dot plot graph comparing the differences of Microglia population (TMEM-119⁺/F4/80⁺) between the Wild type (black) and the Tusc2 KO (red) models in males and females. (B) shows the percentage of microglial cells within the CNS. Tusc2 WT and KO male proportions are comparable, with no significant difference (p = 0.0356). Tusc2 WT and KO female proportions are comparable, with no significant difference. (C) Representative contour dot plot graph showing the differences of activated and resting population (CD45^bright/CD11b⁺ and CD45^dim/CD11b⁺, respectively) between the Wild type (black) and the Tusc2 KO (red) model in males and females. (D) shows the differences in the percentages of activated populations between the WT and KO groups (p = 0.0006) (E) and resting microglial cells with no significant changes. (F) A representative contour dot plot graph comparing the differences in the Astrocytes population (ACSA2⁺) between the Wild type (black) and the Tusc2 KO (red) models in males and females. Tusc2 male WT and KO percent astrocytes are comparable. (G) Tusc2 KO female mice exhibited a significant increase in the percentage of astrocytes in the CNS (p = 0.0002) compared to their WT counterparts. Two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s multiple comparisons test. * p ≤ 0.05, ** p ≤ 0.01. n = 10 mice per group. For bar graphs, the black asterisk denotes comparisons between the WT and KO models, while the red asterisk represents the comparison between the sexes. “Percentage of population” indicates the proportion of all events in the population gating shown at the top of the graphic.