Figure 3. Chronic stress (14-days) leads to astrocyte atrophy and vascular-associated aquaporin-4 loss in the prefrontal cortex in male, but not female, mice.

A) Representative images of vascular tomato lectin (TL) staining (magenta) and immunohistology for astrocyte GFAP (cyan) and AQP4 (yellow) in the PFC (20× + zoom, scale bar = 100 μm). Dashed quadrilaterals indicate TL+ vessel segments with little- to no AQP4 coverage. B) Number of ALDH1L1+ astrocytes in the PFC per mm². C) Area of GFAP+ material in the PFC. D) Area of GFAP+ material associated with blood vessels in the PFC. E) Area of astrocyte AQP4+ material relative to vessel area. F) Area of tomato lectin+ vessels in the PFC. G) Left: Representative image of Alexa Fluor 488-conjugated dextran (10,000 MW, pale yellow) and vascular tomato lectin (magenta) in the PFC. Image features three extravasation sites, with one site highlighted in XZ-YZ dimensions. Middle: Number of dextran extravasation sites in the PFC per image. Right: Mean fluorescence intensity of dextran extravasation sites in the PFC (normalized to control males). Bars represent mean ± S.E.M. ^# p<0.05 main effect (no specific contrasts detected). * p<0.05 planned comparison indicated (Sidak’s test).