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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 May 1.
Published in final edited form as: Trends Neurosci. 2019 Mar 16;42(5):337–348. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2019.02.005

Figure 4. Immune processes regulating sex-specific adolescent development in the nucleus accumbens.

Figure 4.

(A) In early adolescent male rats (P30), dopamine D1 receptors (D1rs) associate with the “tagging” protein, complement C3. Microglia, the only intra-parenchymal brain cell expressing the receptor for C3 (Complement receptor 3, often referred to as CD11b), recognize the C3 tag and phagocytose the C3-D1r complex. (B) By mid-adolescence (P38), D1r levels have decreased and C3-D1r content can be detected inside microglial lysosomes. This collective process results in a decrease in social play behavior in males. (C) D1r levels decline between pre- and early-adolescence (P20-P30) in female rats, but D1r downregulation is not associated with microglia and C3 immune signaling. (D) Rather, there is an as yet unknown protein that is regulated by C3-microglial interactions, and this process regulates basal levels of social play in females.