I am pretty sure that NGF, CNTF, MAP2, VCAM, TNFalpha, TGFbeta, are not specific to astrocytes. If you want Astrocyte specific, stick with GFAP, S100B (which is constiutively expressed in the healthy adult brain), and AldhL1, Glutamine Synthetase, EAAT1 and or EAAT2.
are you trying to stain activated microglia? or astrocytes? Iba1 will stain for microglia and will be upregulated if there are more microglia present but it is not a marker of microglia activation
Im recently of the understanding that CD11b will also stain for the presence of microglia and not just activation.
To my understanding, if you are going for activated (M1 / pro-inflammatory) then try CD86 or MHCII, if you are going for activated anti-inflammatory then look at Arginase I or CD206 - just remember that a lot of these markers are translated into microglia studies from macrophages for obvious reasons. However the microglia field is now moving towards subclasses of activation (just to make things more confusing ! - good luck
Depending on the conditions you are looking at you could take 2 approaches, e.g.:
Microglia: IBA1+/Cd68+/Cd11b+ and context dependent upregulation of Cx3cr1, Cd11c, MHCII, Ym1, Ccl2
Astrocytes: Changes in expression to GFAP, vimentin, NGF, CNTF, MAP2, VCAM, TNFalpha, TGFbeta, S100b (if there is vascular leakage), B-catenin and nestin (in astrocytomas)
I am pretty sure that NGF, CNTF, MAP2, VCAM, TNFalpha, TGFbeta, are not specific to astrocytes. If you want Astrocyte specific, stick with GFAP, S100B (which is constiutively expressed in the healthy adult brain), and AldhL1, Glutamine Synthetase, EAAT1 and or EAAT2.
Iba1 and GFAP are good staining marker for microglia and astrocytes, but antibodies are key materials. I recommend you use ibak (wako) and GFAP (Dako). additionally, Iba1 staining would be weak when you use old brain sections stored beyond 6 months.