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

Figure 2. Exercise-induced changes in microvascular pO2 across cortical layers in old mice.

(a) Capillary mean pO2 across cortical layers in aged sedentary controls and exercising mice. (b) Cumulative histograms of capillary pO2 in layers I, II/III, and IV. (c) The mean Hct levels from aged sedentary (n = 8) and aged exercise groups (n = 5). (d, e) Intravascular pO2 and SO2 in the diving arterioles across cortical layers I–IV in aged sedentary (blue boxplots) and aged exercise (red boxplots) groups, respectively. (f, g) Intravascular pO2 and SO2 in the surfacing venules across cortical layers I–IV in aged sedentary (blue boxplots) and aged exercise (red boxplots) groups, respectively. (h) Depth-dependent OEF in aged sedentary (blue boxplots) and aged exercise (red boxplots) groups. The analysis in (a) and (b) was made with 1224, 2601, and 922 capillaries across n = 9 mice in aged sedentary group and 1334, 2840, and 1078 capillaries across n = 9 mice in aged exercise group in cortical layers I, II/III, and IV, respectively. The analysis in (d–h) was made with 13 arterioles and 12 venules from n = 9 mice in aged sedentary group and 14 arterioles and 12 venules from n = 9 mice in aged exercise group. Statistical analysis was carried out using two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with post hoc Tukey’s in (a) and (d–h) and Student’s t-test in (f). *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01. Additional details on boxplots and exclusions are provided in the Supplementary document.

Figure 2—source data 1. Capillary pO2 measured in aged mice.
Figure 2—source data 2. Blood hematocrit level measured in aged mice.
Figure 2—source data 3. Arterial (and venous) pO2 measured in aged mice.

Figure 2.

Figure 2—figure supplement 1. Histograms of capillary pO2 in layers I, II/III, and IV.

Figure 2—figure supplement 1.

The analysis was made with 1224, 2601, and 922 capillaries across n = 9 mice in aged sedentary group and 1334, 2840, and 1078 capillaries across n = 9 mice in aged exercise group in cortical layers I, II/III, and IV, respectively.
Figure 2—figure supplement 2. Capillary mean pO2 versus capillary red-blood-cell (RBC) flux in the mouse cortex.

Figure 2—figure supplement 2.

(a, b) Correlations between the mean capillary pO2 and the mean capillary RBC flux in aged sedentary and exercise mice, respectively. The black solid line is the best fit result of each linear regression (R2=0.22, y=0.27x+32.06, for aged sedentary mice and R2=0.45, y=0.24x+37.63, for running mice). Each data point represents an individual animal. For each animal, the mean capillary RBC flux and the mean capillary pO2 were calculated by averaging the acquired RBC flux and pO2 values from cortical layers II/III and IV, and cortical layers I, II/III, and IV, respectively. The correlation coefficient (the R value) for each group was converted to Fisher z value to compare difference between correlation coefficients of aged sedentary and exercise mice, and no significant difference was found (the observed z value = 0.44).