Figure 8

Type-1 pericytes accumulate in the scar formed after brain injury. (A) Experimental protocol. Brain coronal sections analyzed 2 weeks after cortical injury in Nestin-GFP/NG2-DsRed mice. (B) Mouse brain sagittal section (modified with permission from [75]). Vertical line indicates the site of the coronal section in (C), 0.02 mm rostral to the bregma. (C) Mouse brain coronal sections (modified with permission from [75]) illustrating the site of the cortical injury (gray). Shaded boxes and areas outlined in red are areas shown in (E) and (F). (D) Quantification of Nestin-GFP^–/NG2-DsRed⁺ and Nestin-GFP⁺/NG2-DsRed⁺ cells before and 14 days after injury (n = 3 mice, 10 brain sections from each preparations). (E) Representative brain coronal section magnifying the cortical injury represented in (B). Note that type-1 pericytes predominate over type-2 in the scar formed after brain injury. Panels show GFP and DsRed fluorescence, brightfield, all fluorescence images merged, and all the images merged with brightfield. Nuclei were stained with Hoechst. (F) Representative brain coronal section magnifying the region contralateral to the injury represented in (B) in the same animal as used in (E). Note that Nestin-GFP^–/NG2-DsRed⁺ cells developed in the scar post injury but were rarely observed in the uninjured contralateral region. Scale bar = 100 μm. LV, lateral ventricle.