Figure 6

Figure 6 FTO triggers microglia activation and neurodegeneration in mice.

(A) qPCR shows mRNA levels of inflammatory factors Il1b and Ccl2 in neural retinas of control, STZ mice without injection, and STZ mice intra-vitreal injected with AAV-blank/AAV-Fto. n = 3-5 per group. (B–D) Fluorescence staining of Iba-1 in retinal flat mounts of mice receiving indicated treatments is demonstrated. n = 3-6 per group. Representative images (B) along with quantification of Iba-1 positive microglia area (C) and activated microglia (D) are shown. Scale bar: 2000 µm (up); 50 µm (below). (E) The inset depicts the parameters regarding morphology of microglia. (F–H) Quantification results of soma area (F), territory area (G) and intersection numbers at 30 µm from nuclei (H) in retinal microglia from mice receiving indicated treatments. n = 6-10 per group. (I, J) qPCR demonstrates mRNA levels of Tmem119, Trem2, Lgals3, Cd11c (I) and Tubb3 (J) in neural retinas of control, STZ mice without injection, and STZ mice intra-vitreal injected with AAV-blank/AAV-Fto. n = 3 per group. (K) Fluorescence staining of Tubb3 in retinal flat mounts of mice receiving indicated treatments is demonstrated. Tubb3⁺ cells, recognized by the round RGC bodies, were counted in three random areas within the radius of 0.5 to 1.5 mm from the optic disc, and averaged to estimate the RGC per mm² in four retinal flat mounts per group. n = 4 per group. Scale bar: 50 µm. Data information: Data represent different numbers (n) of biological replicates. Data are shown as mean ± SEM. One-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s test is used. NS: not significant (p > 0.05); *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; and ***p < 0.001. Source data are available online for this figure.