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Source and license notes supplied with these plates. Plate inclusion does not add a study to the review or change its evidence rating.
Sourced imagery — resident-brain-microbiome academic infographics
Compiled 2026-10-10. Everything below is real, openly licensed scientific imagery/data. No fabricated content.
Page review: reviews/resident-brain-microbiome.html.
Electron micrograph (kept)
| File | What it shows | Source | License | Required attribution line |
|---|---|---|---|---|
ecoli-sem-niaid.jpg |
Scanning electron micrograph of rod-shaped E. coli bacteria; 2100×1766 | NIAID (US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases), via Wikimedia Commons (File:E. coli Bacteria (7316101966).jpg) |
Public domain (US federal government work) | "Image: NIAID (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons" |
Honesty note (also captioned on the graphic): this is cultured E. coli under SEM — what living bacteria look like. A microbial DNA signal in brain tissue is NOT this. Deliberately paired with a labeled schematic ("A DNA signal is not a living microbe") so the image cannot be read as evidence of brain microbes.
Photomicrograph (kept)
| File | What it shows | Source | License | Required attribution line |
|---|---|---|---|---|
hippocampus-nissl.jpg |
Section of mouse hippocampus, Nissl stain; 1600×1200 — healthy brain tissue, the setting of the resident-microbe claim | Wikimedia Commons user "Ns_takes_photos" (own work), File:Hippocampal Neurons, stained.jpg |
CC BY 4.0 | "Ns_takes_photos, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons" |
Labeled schematics (kept)
- "A DNA signal is not a living microbe" (molecular graphic): living microbe ≠ DNA signal; microbial material ≠ living microbes ≠ inflammation. Marked "Schematic".
- "Small signals can come from sampling or lab materials" (cellular graphic): strict-controls vs standard-handling sampling lanes with signal bars. Marked "Schematic".
Rejected candidates (not kept)
| Candidate | Why rejected |
|---|---|
| Ly et al. 2018, Cell Reports (PMC6082376), Figs 1/2/6 | CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 — not permitted (CC0/CC-BY only). Files deleted |
marmoset-mt-cortex.jpg (Lui & Rosa, Neuroscience Research 2015) |
Journal is subscription-access (Elsevier); open license unverifiable. File deleted |
brain-mri-7t.png (7T basal-ganglia / DBS figure) |
Off-topic; source license unverified. File deleted |
| Brain-microbiome DNA-sequencing figures from primary papers | Low-biomass 16S studies' figures are the contested evidence itself; reprinting them would imply endorsement. Schematic of the artifact argument used instead |