FIGURE 6.

Chronic intermittent ethanol (CIE) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exposure resulted in dichotomous alterations in microglia complexity in the prelimbic (PL) cortex. (a-c) Raw data (green), digitized single-cells (purple) and associated convex hulls (grey), as well as skeletonizations (white) for PL cortex microglia in (a) control, (b) CIE-exposed, and (c) LPS-exposed rats. (d) Sholl analysis revealed that LPS exposure resulted in a greater number of breaks (in 1 μm intervals) closer to the center of the cell compared to control rats. (e) CIE exposure reduced while LPS exposure increased the average volume of microglia. (f) CIE and LPS increased the normalized Iba1 intensity in the somatic compartment, with LPS producing a larger effect than CIE. (g) There was no difference between groups in the average territory occupied by microglia (“Hull” volume). (h) When normalized to the convex hull volume, CIE exposure decreased while LPS increased the number of branch points. (i) When normalized to the hull volume, there was no effect of CIE or LPS in the number of Sholl intersections compared to control rats in the PL cortex, yet LPS was significantly different compared to CIE. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ****p < 0.0001 compared to control, ++p < 0.01, ++++ p < 0.0001 compared to CIE. Scale bars = 20 μm