Fig. 3.

Effect of redox-modified CeO₂NPs inhalation on β-Amyloid pathology in 5xFAD mice.

Aβ plaque load was determined in parasagittal brain slices of 5xFAD mice after exposure to clean air (control n = 16), CeO₂ (n = 15), 27% ZrO₂-doped CeO₂ (n = 16) or 78% ZrO₂-doped CeO₂ (n = 16) NPs. Aβ42 was visualized by IHC in 4 μm sections of paraffin-embedded brain hemispheres (Representative pictures are shown in A). For quantification, plaque load was determined in the hippocampus (B) and in the cortex (C) using image analysis software and calculated as the percentage area occupied by Aβ immunostaining expressed in mean ± SEM. For determination of plaques in the cortex, whole image sections were evaluated while the hippocampus regions were defined by hand to evaluate only the hippocampus. A trend was observed of reduced Aβ plaques in the brains of mice exposed to the 78% Zr-doped CeO₂ NPs, but this effect was not statistically significant.