Fig. 2
β1 integrin blockade greatly increases hypoxia-induced BBB breakdown in young and aged mice. Frozen brain sections taken from young (8–10 weeks) or aged (20 months) mice exposed to normoxia or hypoxia (8% O2) that had received daily intraperitoneal injections of the anti-mouse β1 integrin function-blocking antibody or isotype control antibody for 4 days were stained for CD31 (AlexaFluor-488) and fibrinogen (Cy-3). Images show the midbrain (A) or olfactory bulb (B). Scale bar = 200 μm. C–D Quantification of the number of vascular leaks/FOV in young (C) or aged (D) brain after 0- or 4-days hypoxia. Results are expressed as the mean ± SEM (n = 6–8 mice/group). **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. Note that β1 integrin blockade markedly increased the extent of hypoxia-induced vascular leak in all regions examined of both young and aged brain. OB, olfactory bulb; MB, midbrain; ST, striatum; CX, cerebral cortex; CC, corpus callosum