Figure 3.

Mucosal microvessels in the mouse colon. (A, B) Transverse sections of a mouse proximal (Row A) and distal (Row B) colon. The vessels were painted by WGA perfusion (cyan) and CD31 immunoreactivity (red). The white arrows indicate the location of the capillary rings near the mucosal surface. Blue arrows: lymphatic vessels. (C–E) Magnification of microvessels in the proximal (C), mid (D), and distal colon (E). The framed areas in the right panels of rows (A, B) are magnified in (C, E), respectively. The capillaries connecting the capillary networks at the top and bottom of mucosal crypts were straighter in the mid and distal colon than in the proximal colon (A–E). (F–H) WGA (green)-painted capillary rings in the mucosa of the proximal colon (F), mid colon (G), and distal colon (H). Blue fluorescence is DAPI counterstaining. In the proximal colon, the capillary ring surrounded each mucosal crypt individually, while two crypts (see the DAPI-stained crypts) were in the distal colon. The proximal colon had more capillary rings, although smaller than the mid and distal colon in an area of the same size.