I will be doing some mouse retinal whole mounts and want to label microglia in both resting/ramified and activated states. I have an option of using either a goat Iba-1 or a rat CD11b. I would prefer to use the CD11b as it will be easier in conjunction with some of the other antibodies I am planning to use, but wanted to check whether it will label microglia reliably in the resting state. Some literature I have read uses CD11b as a marker of activation, whereas other papers I have read use it to identify both resting and activated microglia.

Thanks for your help!! I am an IHC newbie.