Figure 1

Increased permeability of the BBB after a perinatal intracisternal injection of GA. (A) Panoramic light microscopy images of EB staining (blue) in brain coronal sections in vehicle- and GA-injected animals at 14 and 30 DPI. Note the more intense staining in GA-injected animals, mostly in the striatal region, indicating increased BBB permeability. (B-C) Epifluorescence images of EB red emission in the parietal cortex and striatum at levels indicated in the dashed line boxes shown in (A). Increased parenchymal EB staining was found in GA-injected animals when compared to controls. It was also evident that zones that normally do not have a BBB (*) were stained in all animals perfused with EB. Some EB parenchymal extravasation was found in vehicle-injected animals at 14 DPI, when the BBB is not fully established. (D) Quantitation of EB red fluorescence in the parietal cortex (PCx) and striatum (St) indicating a significant increase in the striatum of GA-injected animals at both 14 and 30 DPI when compared to controls. (*): p < 0.05. (E) Confocal images of IgG immunostaining (green) in the striatum of 14 DPI vehicle- and GA-injected animals. Note that the positive signal is present only in the choroid plexus (CP, white arrows) but not in the striatum. Scale bars in A: 1 mm; B; C and D: 500 μm; E: 200 μm.