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. 2023 Jul 4;12:e86329. doi: 10.7554/eLife.86329

Figure 1. Aging- and exercise-induced alterations in cerebral microcirculation.

(a) Capillary red-blood-cell (RBC) flux across cortical layers II/III and IV, and subcortical white matter in young sedentary, aged sedentary, and aged exercise groups. (b) Cumulative histograms of capillary RBC flux in the gray and white matter in aged sedentary and aged exercise groups. (c) The coefficient of variance (CV) of capillary RBC flux across cortical layers II/III and IV, and subcortical white matter in each animal group. (d) Venular flow versus vessel diameter. Different symbols represent different animals. The red dashed and blue solid line is the best fit result of each linear regression for aged sedentary and aged exercise groups, respectively. (e) Mean venular flow in ascending venules in (d) in aged sedentary and exercise groups. The measured flow values from all the venules were first averaged to obtain the mean flow for each mouse. The mean flow values for each animal group were then obtained by averaging over mice from that group. The data in (a) are from 264, 142, and 168 capillaries in six mice in the young sedentary group, 921, 486, and 112 capillaries in seven mice in the aged sedentary group, and 1046, 465, and 238 capillaries in eight mice in the aged exercise group, in cortical layers II/III, IV, and the white matter, respectively. The data in (d) and (e) are from 14 and 7 ascending venules in 9 and 6 mice in the aged sedentary and aged exercise groups, respectively. Statistical analysis was carried out using two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with post hoc Tukey’s in (a) and (c) and Student’s t-test in (e). *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01. Additional details on boxplots and animals excluded from the analyses are provided in the Supplementary document.

Figure 1—source data 1. Capillary red-blood-cell (RBC) flux measured in young and aged mice.
Figure 1—source data 2. Capillary red-blood-cell (RBC) flux coefficient of variance (CV) measured in aged mice.
Figure 1—source data 3. Venous flow measured in aged mice.

Figure 1.

Figure 1—figure supplement 1. Histograms of capillary red-blood-cell (RBC) flux in the gray and white matter in each animal group.

Figure 1—figure supplement 1.

The analysis was made with 921, 486, and 112 capillaries in seven mice in the aged sedentary group and 1046, 465, and 238 capillaries in eight mice in the aged exercise group, in cortical layers II/III, IV, and the white matter, respectively.
Figure 1—figure supplement 2. Exercise-induced alterations in capillary red-blood-cell (RBC) speed.

Figure 1—figure supplement 2.

Capillary RBC speed across cortical layers II/III and IV, and subcortical white matter in aged sedentary and running mice, respectively. The analysis was made with 921, 486, and 112 capillaries across n = 7 mice in the aged sedentary group and 1046, 465, and 238 capillaries across n = 8 mice in the aged exercise group in cortical layers II/III, IV, and the white matter. Statistical comparisons were carried out using two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Tukey post hoc test.
Figure 1—figure supplement 3. Exercise-induced alterations in capillary red-blood-cell (RBC) line-density.

Figure 1—figure supplement 3.

Capillary RBC line-density across cortical layers II/III and IV, and subcortical white matter in aged sedentary and running mice. The analysis was made with 921, 486, and 112 capillaries across n = 7 mice in aged sedentary group and 1046, 465, and 238 capillaries across n = 8 mice in the aged exercise group in cortical layers II/III, IV, and the white matter. Statistical comparisons were carried out using two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Tukey post hoc test. The single-asterisk symbol (*) indicates p < 0.05; the double-asterisk symbol (**) indicates p < 0.01.
Figure 1—figure supplement 4. Correlations between the capillary red-blood-cell (RBC) flux and coefficient of variance (CV), and the running activity.

Figure 1—figure supplement 4.

Each data point represents an individual animal. The black solid line is the best linear regression fit. (a, b) Correlations between the capillary RBC flux and CV in the white matter and the average daily running distance, respectively. (c, d) Correlations between the CV of capillary RBC flux and CV in the gray matter and the average daily running distance, respectively. For each animal, the gray matter capillary RBC flux was calculated by averaging the acquired flux values from cortical layers II/III and IV.