Human microglia is prone to M2 activation by overexpressing MSX3 and mitigating the progression of EAE. A, B, Effect of MSX3 overexpression on the activation of human microglia by qPCR for the M2 activation markers CD206 and IGF-1 (A) and for the M1 activation marker TNF-α (B). AU, Arbitrary units. *p < 0.05 versus the control indicated. C, Clinical score of EAE on human microglia transduced with overexpression control lentivirus (CtrlOE HM) and human microglia transduced with MSX3 overexpression lentivirus (MSX3OE HM) transplantation groups. The data represent average disease scores from three experiments with five to eight mice per group. *p < 0.05 versus CtrlOE HM. D–G, Histology analysis of the extent of demyelination and inflammation in the spinal cords of mice from the HM^CtrlOE and HM^MSX3OE transplantation groups. D, F, Luxol fast blue (D) and H&E (F) staining of representative spinal cord sections of EAE in groups as indicated. Boxed areas in the left columns are enlarged in the right columns. Asterisks and arrowheads indicate demyelination and cell infiltration, respectively. Scale bars, 200 μm. E, G, Quantification of the percentage of demyelinated white matter (WM) in total WM (E) and the number of infiltrating cells around the lesion site of EAE mice (G). *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.005.