Best marker for 'activated' microglia - CD68?

Anyone have experience? Looking for the best antibody to mark ‘activated’ microglia. Currently looking into CD68. Looking for the best antibody/supplier for this. Thanks!

@tberta @esypek

They say CD68 is ‘activated’ but it’s there in naive animals too.

CD68 has been used in brain for “active” microglia and in periphery to label infiltrated and “active” macrophages.
I don’t recall papers showing CD68 staining in spinal cord and also what is the functional meaning of a CD68 increase. Instead I would recommend the use of p-p38 from Cell Signaling as a marker for microglia activation in the context of pain.

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Spent almost a year of my PhD trying to find something for spinal cord microglia activation. CD68 is variable and not absent at baseline in spinal cord. Haven’t tried p-p38 but now I will look into it!

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