Treatment with Minocycline Suppresses Microglia Activation and Reverses Neural Stem Cells Loss after Simulated Microgravity

Figure 5

Minocycline suppressed the activation of microglia and the reduction in the number of NSCs in the dentate gyrus induced by microgravity. Representative microphotographs show that Iba1⁺, BrdU⁺, and DCX⁺ cells in the dentate gyrus of rats in control (a), control + MC (b), TS (c), and TS + MC groups (d) received 7-day tail suspension, respectively. (e) Quantification of the ROD of Iba1 immunoreactivity in the dentate gyrus. (f) Quantification of BrdU-positive cells in the dentate gyrus. (g) Quantification of the ROD of DCX immunoreactivity in the dentate gyrus. The ROD of Iba1 immunoreactivity in TS groups was much higher than that in the control; however, the increase was restrained by minocycline treatment. The number of BrdU⁺ cells and the ROD of DCX immunoreactivity of TS groups were much lower than those of the control; however, the decreases were reversed by minocycline treatment. Scale bar: 100 mm. Error bars represent SD. , compared with control group; , compared with TS group (Bonferroni post hoc test after one-way ANOVA).