Fig. 7: Blood flow changes in regions of pericyte ablation and surrounding capillaries.

a Image showing capillaries uncovered by a triple ablation (purple). These data are from a single triple pericyte ablation experiment, performed in an aged mouse. I.v. dye = intravenous dye. b Three days post-ablation, changes in red blood cell (RBC) flux from baseline are color-coded in a subset of vessels. c Overlay of blood flow direction on vascular image. Ascending venules are marked in blue, and penetrating arterioles in red. d Blood cell flux before and 3 days post ablation for segments in and immediately around the ablation area. Paired t test, t(24)=3.880; ***p = 0.0007 for n = 25 capillaries from an aged mouse. Significantly higher variance was detected at 3 days compared to baseline, F test to compare variances (two-sided), F(24, 24) = 3.545; ***p = 0.0029. Data shown as mean ± SD. e Proportion of vessels in the area that experienced an increase vs. decrease in flux on Day 3. f Blood cell flux in capillaries that increased in flux from baseline to 3 days post-ablation. Paired t test (two-sided), t(17) = 6.273; ****p < 0.0001, for n = 18 capillaries from an aged mouse. g A subset of capillaries decreased in flux following pericyte ablation. Paired t test (two-sided), t(6) = 3.229; *p = 0.0179, n = 6 capillaries from an aged mouse. Data in d, f, g are shown as mean ± SD. h–j A divergent bifurcation that loses pericyte coverage in one downstream branch, while the alternate route remains covered. RBCs passing through i.v. dye captured by line scans are shown for each vessel (i, ii, iii) over time. k–m A convergent bifurcation that loses pericyte coverage to one upstream vessel. RBCs passing through i.v. dye captured by line scans are shown for each vessel (i, ii, iii) over time.