Table 1.

Maternal dietary choline deficiency decreases the number of blood vessels in fetal hippocampus

Angiometric analysis	CD	CT	CS
Number of blood vessels per hippocampus	342 ± 19**	473 ± 21	455 ± 26
Combined cross-sectional area (μm2)	29,507 ± 3,638	38,631 ± 3,734	39,193 ± 1,421
Individual microvessel area (μm2)	101 ± 8	106 ± 7	121 ± 9

Pregnant mouse dams were fed a CD, CT, or CS diet from E12 to E17 when angiogenesis in fetal hippocampi was evaluated. Blood vasculature was fluorescent labeled using isolectin-ALEXA488 conjugated (green fluorescence) as described in Materials and Methods section. The number, total surface area, and the diameter of microvessels that were isolectin GS-IB4 positive were measured using the ImageJ Software in both hippocampi of one fetal brain and the average numbers were reported. Six consecutive sections (5 μm) of medial hippocampal region from each sample (30 μm total) were analyzed. Statistical analysis was performed by ANOVA and Tukey-Kramer. Data is presented as mean ± SE, n = 6 pups from 6 different dams/group, ** = p < 0.01 different from CT and CS groups.