Fig. 5.
Decreased microglia reactivity and IGF-1 expression in absence of T cells. (A) Spinal cord lumbar sections from non-Tg, SOD1G93A and SOD1G93A TCR−/− end-stage mice were stained for CD68 (microglia, red), GFAP (astrocytes, green) and imaged by confocal microscopy. In the absence of T cells, CD68 fluorescence decreases while GFAP is unchanged. (Scale bar, 20 μm.) Cumulative analysis of CD68, and GFAP pixels in serial sections (n.s., not significant) (B) Lumbar sections were stained for IGF-1 (red) and CD11b (green). The CD11b antibody used (M1/70) only recognized activated microglia in fixed tissue sections. In SOD1G93A spinal cord, microglia co-localized with expression of IGF-1 (60x magnification), and in SOD1G93A TCR−/− mice, CD11b and IGF-1 staining decreased (Ventral horn gray matter is delineated by dotted white lines). Scale bar = 50 μm. Image analysis of IGF-1 integrated intensity/CD11b (C), IGF-1 (I), and co-localized (Col) pixels show the dependence of IGF-1 levels on T cells (one way ANOVA, ***, P < 0.001.)