Proliferation in the Alzheimer Hippocampus Is due to Microglia, Not Astroglia, and Occurs at Sites of Amyloid Deposition
Figure 3
Glia are tightly associated with Aβ plaque morphology. The same chromogen Fast Red substrate was used to visualize either microglia (a–d) or astrocytes (e–h) in these images; (a–d) Iba1+ cells infiltrate Aβ plaques and appear involved in the formation of dense-core plaques: (b) proliferating Iba1+ cells (arrowhead) are seen within primitive plaques, (c) a dense-core plaque with concentric Iba1+ cells, and (d) a mature dense-core plaque without concentric Iba1+ cells. (e-f) GFAP+ astrocytes participate in degradation of multiple plaque subtypes; proliferating cells (arrowheads) within the borders of plaques degraded by GFAP+ astrocytes. Scale bars (a–f) = 50 μm. (g) Plaque load was significantly increased in the AD cohort compared to Con and Dem cohorts (one-way ANOVA ). (h) Hippocampal cross-sectional areas were not significantly different.
