Figure 6.

Effects of microglial inhibition on dendritic spine-related proteins in vitro. A, Representative images of MAP2 labeled neurons from primary POA cultures used to quantify dendritic spine-like protrusions at 100× magnification. Scale bar, 20 μm. B, Estradiol increased the density of spine-like protrusions relative to vehicle-treated controls. Estradiol-treated cultures depleted of microglia did not show an increase in protrusions, nor did cultures cotreated with estradiol and minocycline. There was no change in spine density in cultures treated only with minocycline. *Significantly different from vehicle (ANOVA; p < 0.05). C, Iba1 staining in control cultures and cultures depleted of microglia. Depleted cultures had ∼80% fewer microglia.