Fig 1: 17-β estradiol (ES) impedes gliosis and brain inflammation after SWI. (a–g) Western blot analysis showing protein expression of GFAP, Iba-1, CD64, TGF-β, and IGF-1 in the experimental groups. Anti-β-actin was used as a control for the protein levels across the samples. The densities are expressed in arbitrary units (AU). (h,i) Brain section from the experimental animals illustrating Iba-1-positive cells (red) stained with DAPI (blue) of the cortex and DG region, with the respective histogram. (j,k) Iba-1 immunostained sections of the cortex and hippocampal-DG region of the experimental groups with respective histograms. Values are presented as means ± S.E.M. The data presented are relative to the control group. p-value < 0.05 was considered significant. * p < 0.05 vs. control group, # p < 0.05 vs. SWI + 17-β estradiol group. Bar = 50 μm. Statistical significance was determined by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey’s post-hoc analysis using the GraphPad Prism (ver. 8.0.2) software.