3.4 Fingolimod treatment inhibited microglial activation in the
dentate gyrus of PCP-treated rats
Accumulating evidence suggests that alterations in glial cells are
closely related to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia
(Agdm, Psaga et al., 2020). We
hypothesised that the treatment effect of fingolimod may also be related
to its immunomodulatory function. To test this hypothesis, we performed
immunostaining of GFAP-labelled astrocytes and Iba-1-labelled microglia
to evaluate glial activation in the hippocampus (Figure 5A). The results
indicated that PCP (10 mg/kg, i.p.)-treated rats showed a significantly
higher number of Iba-1-labelled microglia (Figure 5B), whereas
fingolimod treatment (0.5 mg/kg, 1 mg/kg, i.p.) dose-dependently
decreased the Iba-1 positive cells. However, no significant difference
in GFAP expression was observed between the groups (Figure 5C). The
above results indicate that fingolimod treatment inhibited microglial
activation in the dentate gyrus of PCP-treated rats.