Fig. 6

Assessment of microglial activation in the striatum. Representative images showing CD68⁺ activated microglia/macrophages in the striatum of control (a), LPS + hyperoxia (b) and LPS + hyperoxia + hAEC (c) animals. LPS and hyperoxia significantly increased the density of CD68⁺ activated microglia/macrophages, and this was further increased in hAEC-treated animals (d). e–g Assessment of microglia/macrophage activation in the cerebral cortex. Density of CD68⁺ cells was not different between control and LPS + hyperoxia animals in bin 1 (e), but was increased in bin 2 (f) and bin 3 (g). Administration of hAECs to LPS + hyperoxia animals increased the density of CD68⁺ cells activated in all three bins (e–g). h–j Assessment of CD68 staining in the cerebral white matter tracts. Density of CD68⁺ cells was not different between control and LPS + hyperoxia animals in the corpus callosum (h), cingulum (i) or external capsule (j); administration of hAECs increased the density of CD68⁺ cells in the corpus callosum (h). *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ††LPS + hyperoxia versus control, p < 0.01; †††LPS + hyperoxia versus control, p < 0.001. Scale bar (a–c) = 25 μm. Black arrows, CD68⁺ cells.hAEC human amnion epithelial cell, LPS lipopolysaccharide