Fig. 2.

HFD induces glial-dependent changes in the duodenal myenteric plexus and dendritic spines decrease in neurons. Representative images of duodenal myenteric plexus from mice fed with a standard diet (SD) or high-fat diet (HFD) for 20 weeks, in the absence or presence of daily IP of 10 μmol/kg fluorocitrate (FC). GFAP (green), TLR4 (red), and Dapi (blue) immunoreactivity and relative immunolabeling quantification at weeks 6 and 20 (a–c) of diet protocol, respectively. BDNF (green) and HuCD (red) protein expression were also assessed at 6 and 20 weeks (d–f), respectively. The number of spines (PSD 95 immunoreactivity, red) was measured along neuronal dendrites (MAP-2 immunoreactivity, green) of cultured enteric neurons isolated from the duodenal myenteric plexuses of the above-mentioned experimental groups at weeks 6 and 20 (g–i) of diet protocol. Data were analyzed by 2-way ANOVA or 1-way ANOVA and Dunnett post hoc. Results are expressed as average relative fluorescence units (RFU) ± SEM per area unit or average number of dendritic spines/10 μm of n assessments. **P<0.01, ***P<0.001, and ****P<0.0001 versus relative SD group. Scale bars = 10 and 20 μm