Fig 3. Tg and WT astrocyte activation status.

Tg and WT astrocytes were treated or not with pantethine, then exposed or not to oAβ. (A) Confocal microscopy images of astrocyte morphology monitored by GFAP labeling (green); nuclei are labeled with Hoechst (blue). a, Quiescent astrocytes; b, astrocytes exposed to oAβ; P, pantethine treatment. Each picture is representative of images obtained from at least three independent cultures. (B) Astrocyte activation quantified by counting the number of activated cells (stellar shape) as a percent of the total number of cells in 10 randomly selected 10⁵ μm² fields from all the pictures obtained. (C) Astrocyte viability determined using the MTT assay. The diagrams are mean values ± SD from three independent experiments (n = 3 per group) (*, significant difference between WT and Tg groups; §, significant difference with groups not exposed to oAβ; #, significant difference with the corresponding group untreated with pantethine; p<0.05). Scale bars: 100 μm.