Since phagocytosis was one of the highest KEGG pathways identified in the Alc-DE group, we tested if alcohol influenced microglial phagocytosis. In primary rat microglial cells, overnight exposure to alcohol reduced phagocytosis of fluorescently labeled oligomeric Aβ1–42 (Fig. 4a, b). In these cells, incubation with TII cytokines also reduced Aβ phagocytosis compared to control cells, but that reduction was not affected by the presence of alcohol (Fig. 4c, d). Quantitation of the average amount of Aβ internalized over 45 min shows a significant 16% reduction due to alcohol and a 37% reduction due to TII (Fig. 4e).
