Journal: bioRxiv
Article Title: Microbiome depletion rejuvenates the aging brain
doi: 10.64898/2026.02.13.705770
Figure Lengend Snippet: a, Schematic of the experimental design: aged mice were treated with either control IgG or an anti–eotaxin-1 neutralizing antibody for 30 days (Control, n = 3, Eotaxin Ab, n = 5). b, Representative CD31 immunostaining and quantification showing increased blood vessel density in the cortex of Eotaxin-1–inhibited mice. c, BrdU labeling (green, arrows) of proliferating cells in the DG and quantification of BrdU+ cells reveals enhanced adult neurogenesis following Eotaxin-1 inhibition. d, Immunofluorescence for Iba1 (magenta) and CD68 (green) shows reduced microglial activation in Eotaxin-1–treated mice. Yellow arrows indicate double positive cells. e, Quantification of myelinating oligodendrocyte precursor cells (Pdgfra+, green) in the corpus callosum (highlighted in white) indicates increased myelination upon Eotaxin-1 blockade. Scale bars: 100 μm (b), 50 μm (c,d), 500 μm (e). f, Schematic of behavioral test design: aged mice treated with Rat IgG or Eotaxin-1 antibody were tested for locomotor function and anxiety using the Open Field (OF) test, and their memory was assessed using the novel object recognition test (NOR) test. g, Time (sec) and distance spent (m) in the center or periphery of the arena during the OF test. h, Discrimination index, exploration time (sec) and total distance travelled (m) in the NOR test (n = 7/control; 10/Eotaxin-1 antibody). All data represented as mean ± s.e.m.; * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, Student’s t -test.
Article Snippet: For overexpression experiments, a separate cohort of 23-month-old C57BL/6J mice was treated with antibiotics for 30 days (as above) and concurrently injected intraperitoneally with recombinant mouse Eotaxin (10 ng/g body weight in PBS (2 μg/ml stock; R&D Systems, 420ME020) every 3 days.
Techniques: Control, Immunostaining, Labeling, Inhibition, Immunofluorescence, Activation Assay