Fig. 3

Induction of activated microglia after mild bTBI. a-i Rats subjected to mild bTBI showed increased levels of activated microglia throughout the brain, including the brain regions: cerebral cortex (a-c), striatum (d-f) and hippocampal area CA1 (g-i). Representative images of brain regions stained for the ionized Ca²⁺-binding adaptor molecule 1 (Iba1), a marker of activated microglia, are shown for controls (a, d and g) and rats at 3 days post-bTBI (b, e and h). Bar graph of the normalized signal of Iba1 for corresponding brain regions for controls and rats at 1, 3, 7 and 21 day(s) post-bTBI is shown (c, f and i). Signal was quantitated on n = 6–9 slides from 3 individual rats for each treatment group (2–3 slides/rat). All scale bars indicate 100 μm. All data are presented as mean ± SEM; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001; ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc