Figure 5.

Changes to adult microglia morphology after prenatal stress, IL-6, and anti-IL6. A, Adult microglia were categorized among four subtypes. B, In adult brain, prenatal stress increased highly ramified microglia (vs NS, p<0.0001), as did NS/IL-6 (vs NS, p<0.0001). Prenatal anti-IL-6 concomitant with stress (PS/Anti-IL-6) corrected this increase (non-significant vs. NS p=0.20), with less highly ramified microglia in PS/Anti-IL-6 compared to PS alone (p=0.002). PS decreased levels of lowly ramified cells (vs NS p=0.03), as did NS/IL-6 (vs NS p=0.01), while PS/Anti-IL-6 increased levels of these cells compared to PS animals (p=0.005) and did not differ from controls (p=0.36). Finally, as with lowly ramified cells, NS/IL-6 alone (vs. NS p=0.02) and PS (vs. NS p=0.0004) decreased levels of amoeboid cells, while anti-IL-6 concomitant with PS restored levels of these cells to NS levels (p=0.13), significantly lower than PS levels (p=0.02). Means ± SEMs are shown. n= 3-5 animals per group. (for comparisons to NS: *p<0.05, **p<0.0005; for comparisons to PS: † p<.05, ‡ p<0.005 by two-tailed student's t-test; Arrows indicate cell processes.)