Fig. 1

Disruption of the morphology and integrity of periarterial basement membrane in cerebral amyloid angiopathy. a Morphology of the periarterial basement membrane (BM) in the surface arteries. Collagen IV was used to identify the BM. Note the discontinuity in the morphology of collagen IV in mid and old Tg. The inlet boxes indicate the areas with higher magnification images in (b). Scale bar = 100 µm. b Representative images of the BM (collagen IV) and amyloid plaque (MX04) in the surface arteries. The collagen IV layer with amyloid plaque deposition is pierced (white arrowhead). Note that the collagen IV layer appears distorted in accordance with the shape of amyloid accumulation in old Tg. The white dotted lines represent the scanning lines for intensity profile analysis in (c). Scale bar = 50 µm. c Intensity profile analysis of the fluorescence signal of collagen IV and MX04 in the surface arteries. The numbers indicate each scan line in (b). Note that the MX04 signal is mainly observed within the collagen IV layer (gray-shaded area) but also outside the layer in old Tg (red-shaded area). The collagen IV intensity decreased with an increase in the MX04 signal (purple-shaded area). d Representative images of the BM (collagen IV) and amyloid plaque (MX04) in the penetrating arteries. The white dotted lines represent the scan lines for intensity profile analysis in (e). Scale bar = 100 µm. e Fluorescence intensity profile of collagen IV and MX04 in the penetrating arteries. The numbers indicate scan lines in (d). Scan 1 depicts the superficial part, while scan 2 depicts the deep cortical part