Figure 1.

Workflow for retro-orbital and transcardiac perfusions

A schematic of retro-orbital (A) and transcardiac (B) perfusion. The nose cone should completely cover the nose and it takes about 3 min until the mouse is anesthetized (C) An eye lubricant is applied to prevent the injected eye from being dehydrated (D) and a desired contrast agent should be injected at an angle of approximately 45° and the needle should be removed without causing any disturbance in the surrounding tissues (E) The red line in panel F indicates an insertion line to cut open the chest and to expose the heart by puncturing diaphragm and cutting through the rib cage (G and H) Insert the pre-loaded syringe into the left ventricle without puncturing into the right ventricle (I) A successful perfusion can be evaluated by examining how evenly the fluorescent signal is distributed across the mid cerebral arteries (MCA) in the left and right hemispheres from a dorsal view (J) and the labeling of the circle of Willis (C.o.W.) and basilar artery (B.A.) from a ventral view (K) ob = olfactory bulb, crb = cerebellum. (Scale bar for J and K = 1000 μm).