Role and characteristics of hippocampal region microglial activation in poststroke depression

•The hippocampal region shows a more sensitive microglial activation status than other regions of the brain, even the ischemic region of the brain in PSD.•Most microglia in the hippocampal region of PSD had a pro-inflammatory activated status, but the anti-inflammatory activated status was also present.•Among the markers of microglial activation status, the pro-inflammatory marker (IL-1) showed strong negative correlations with PSD.