Fig. 4

Targeted depletion of astrocytes with intravenous CAV2 injection. a Experimental timeline in which iDTR mice are first injected with intravenous CAV2-Cre to induce iDTR expression in targeted cells, then treated with intraperitoneal DT to deplete DTR+ cells. b Representative images of GFAP staining in layer I of cortex of CAV2-Cre-injected iDTR mice treated with DT or saline. The scale bar is 50 μm. c Plot of GFAP+ cells in the cortex of iDTR mice treated with DT or saline. Two-tailed unpaired t-test P = 0.0013. d Representative images of GFAP staining in the dentate gyrus of CAV2-Cre-injected iDTR mice treated with DT or saline. The scale bar is 50 μm. e Plot of GFAP+ cells in the molecular layer (Mol) of the dentate gyrus of iDTR mice treated with DT or saline. Two-tailed unpaired t-tests, P = 0.021. f Plot of GFAP+ cells in the hilus of the dentate gyrus of DT and saline-treated mice. Two-tailed unpaired t-test, P = 0.732. g 40× magnified representative images of GFAP staining in the hippocampus of CAV2-Cre-injected iDTR mice treated with DT or saline (left). The scale bar is 10 μm. Subgroup analysis of GFAP+ cells, segregated by wrapping-type and endfoot-type GFAP-expressing cells of iDTR mice treated with DT or saline (right). Two-tailed unpaired t-tests, P = 0.043, 0.007, respectively. h Plot of animal weights across the experiment. Two-tailed, paired t-tests, Saline group: P = 0.162; DT group: P = 0.041. Data are plotted as mean +/− SEM. * indicates P < 0.05, ** indicates P < 0.01. n = 4 animals per condition