Vitamin E reduces toxic effects of activated microglia on neuronal cells. Phase-contrast photomicrographs of differentiated PC12 cells before (A,C,E) or after 24 hr of (B,D,F) coculture with N9 microglia. Before coculture, N9 cells were pretreated for 2 hr with LPS (30 ng/ml) alone (LPS) or LPS plus vitamin E (50 μM) pretreatment (LPS + Vit E) or without treatment (CON), and then the N9 culture inserts were completely washed with fresh medium and cocultured with differentiated PC12 cells. Scale bar = 50 μm.