Fig. 3

Analysis of the perivascular compartment in α-DB deficient mice. a and b Assessment by transmission electron microscopy revealed a thicker appearing basement membrane (false coloured orange) in α-DB deficient mice when compared to wild-type control mice (a3 and b3). No other notable differences were observed between endothelium (a1 and b1, false coloured blue) or intramural cells (a2 and b2, false coloured green). The red arrows in (a) indicate the location of glial α-DB in wild-type control mice. When analysed for mean surface area, capillaries in α-DB deficient mice showed larger lumens and thicker vessel walls (c). The ratio of endothelium, intramural cells and basement membrane were altered with basement membrane occupying a significantly larger percentage area of the vessel wall (d). Each box plot represents the range of data from three mice. The scatter plots represent the means of repeated measures (20 per mouse, n = 3). Immunohistochemistry for COL4 revealed no notable differences in vessel density between α-DB deficient and wild-type control mice (e) but did show vessels with more intense staining (red arrows in f and g, scale bar 50 μm) in α-DB deficient mice. Expression of COL4 per vessel was found to be significantly higher in all vessel types in α-DB deficient mice (h). Each column represents overall mean values (n = 3). Error bars: ± 2 SE