Fig. 2
Lentinan suppressed the expression profile of genes associated with neuroinflammation and microglia activation induced by chronic Toxoplasma gondii infection. a Differential expression analysis revealed gene expression changes in the hippocampus of control (Con), ConL, Tg and TgL mice. Between Con and Tg mice (Blue Circle), 2698 genes were upregulated and 652 genes were downregulated; 2696 genes were changed between Tg and TgL mice (red circle), with 307 genes increased and 2389 genes decreased. b Venn diagram illustrating the overlap of 2491 genes that were changed in both Con vs. Tg (blue) and Tg vs. TgL (Red). c Scatter plot illustrating the 2491 overlapping genes showed log2FC(Con vs Tg, x-axis;) against log2FC(Tg vs TgL, y-axis;). The upper left quadrant represents 241 genes that had decreased expression with T. gondii infection and increased expression supplemented with lentinan. Conversely, the lower right quadrant illustrates 2250 genes that were increased with T. gondii infection and decreased with lentinan supplementation. d The top 20 enriched GO terms of biological process. e The enriched KEGG pathways. f Relative expression of IL-1β, TLR4, CD68, Tyrobp, Cx3cr1 and PLD4. Con: control group (n = 3); ConL: Con + Lentinan group (n = 3); Tg: chronic T. gondii-infected group (n = 3); TgL: Tg + Lentinan group (n = 3). Values are mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001