Fig. 1

Sequence of vascular morphological recovery following focal contusion brain injury in mouse cortex. A Wide field epifluorescent images of the whole brain (A), expanded view of the injury site (B), and confocal microscopy in the perilesional area (C). At 1-day post injury (dpi) there is a dramatic loss of vessels at the lesion (L) site. The lesion area is refilled with small blood vessels and other cells over the 30d time course. Revascularization appears to be most prominent at 7–14 dpi. Confocal images (C) reveal that new vessels exhibit distinct morphologies as compared to sham/naïve vessels, with abnormally increased branching and smaller vessel structures. D Overall vascular density in the perilesional region (P) of the injured hemisphere is reduced at 1 dpi but peaks at 14 dpi, then returns to sham levels (red bar) by 30 dpi. E Lesion induced changes in vascular junctions follow a similar time course to vessel density. F Post-lesion average vessel length also slowly increases, reaching a maximal length at 14 dpi, followed by a return to sham (red bar) levels. (n = 5–6/time point; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001, one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons post-hoc tests)