Fig 11. Amount of shared membrane does not affect the phagocytic response of astrocytes.

A. Cells were categorized by the amount of membrane connection shared between two astrocytes. Two different connections between cells were observed: those with thin filopodial connections “Filopodia/ thin membrane”, and clusters of cells with large amount of shared membrane, “Clustered/ shared membrane”. Phase contrast images (contrast enhanced) show representative cells below the schematic diagram of the two categories of observed membrane connections. White arrows show thin filopodial connections, while significantly more shared membrane between cells is visible in the cell cluster on the right. B. No significant difference in phagocytosis was observed between cells sharing thin filopodial connections versus cells in clusters with significant shared membrane: 62% (23/37) and 65% (48/74), respectively.