Supplementary Figure 5: Capillary length, pericyte coverage and vessel dilation in young Meox2+/− mice.
From: Pericyte degeneration leads to neurovascular uncoupling and limits oxygen supply to brain
(a) Representative image of pericyte coverage (CD13, magenta; left) of lectin-positive brain endothelial capillary profiles (< 6 μm in diameter; lectin, blue; middle) and overlay (right) in Meox2+/− and Meox2+/+ control mice. (b,c) Quantification (mean ± 95% CI) of total capillary length calculated from the length of lectin-positive endothelial profiles < 6 μm in diameter (b, Mann-Whitney U test, single tail, p = 0.05), and pericyte coverage of lectin-positive brain endothelial capillary profiles (c, Mann-Whitney U test, p = 1.00) in 3 control Meox2+/+ and 3 Meox2+/− mice (b), and 5 control Meox2+/+ and 3 Meox2+/− mice (c). In each animal 6 randomly selected fields from the cortex were analyzed in 5 nonadjacent sections (~100 μm apart) and data were averaged per mouse to obtain individual values (circles) as illustrated. (d, e) Average time (mean ± CI) to 50% peak capillary diameter (d, Mann-Whitney U test, p = 0.79) (d) or 50% peak arteriole diameter (e, Mann-Whitney U test, p = 0.55) was determined after an electrical hind limb stimulation (10 s, 10 Hz, 2 ms pulse duration) in capillaries from 7 control Meox2+/+ (16 total capillaries) mice and 3 Meox2+/− mice (15 total capillaries), and arterioles from 6 control Meox2+/+ mice (13 total arterioles) and 3 Meox2+/− mice (12 total arterioles). Sigmoid parametric fit analysis was performed as for figure 1 c–e. Bootstrapped in panels b–e.
