Figure 5.

Effect of retinal microglial depletion on photoreceptor structure. A, Photoreceptor rods, labeled with anti-Reep6 antibody, demonstrated similar numbers and organization across groups. B, Anti-PNA-labeling of cone outer matrix sheaths in the outer nuclear layer (ONL) demonstrated structural similarities in the cone outer segments in all three groups. C, The structures of cone outer segments, somata, and axons, as revealed by immunolabeling with cone arrestin, were also unchanged in TG depleted retinas relative to controls (top). Confocal imaging in a single horizontal plane in the ONL (dotted line) demonstrated similar distribution and density of cone somata (bottom). Density of arrestin+ cone soma is quantified in D. Column heights indicate distribution means and error bars indicate SE; n = 12 imaging fields from four animals (2 male and 2 female animals) in each of the WT, TG, and TG depleted 30 d groups. Pairwise comparisons between groups did not reveal significant differences (p > 0.05 for all comparisons, one-way ANOVA with Tukey's multiple-comparisons test). Scale bar, 20 μm.