Fig 4. Krabbe astrocytes impact survival of iPSC-derived neurons and microglia in co-culture.

Cryopreserved astrocytes from healthy control or Krabbe donors were thawed and cultured for 7 days. Neurons or microglia-like cells generated from two control donors were then seeded onto the established control or Krabbe astrocytes. (A) Representative images of HuC/D positive (purple) and MAP2 positive (green) neurons following 96-hour co-culture with control or Krabbe astrocytes. Significantly fewer HuC/D+ neurons were identified when co-cultured with Krabbe astrocytes. (B) Representative images of IBA1+ (red) microglia following 96-hour co-culture with control or Krabbe astrocytes. A significantly greater number of IBA1+ microglia were identified when co-cultured with Krabbe astrocytes. Representative images in panels A and B were acquired at 20x magnification. **** p < 0.0001. Data for individual donor subjects is shown as a box and whisker plot with median represented and errors bars indicating min/max values. Statistical analysis was conducted using t-tests on pooled data comparing control vs. Krabbe cells.