FIG. 2.

Temporal changes in microvessel labeling reveals hypoperfusion following spinal cord contusion. The number of microvessels was counted in the two regions shown in Figure 1I at the injury epicenter and (A,B) and penumbra (C,D). The data from A and C are also shown in B and D, but are presented separately to visualize all data during the acute injury phase. A rapid drop of LEA+ microvessels remains low at the epicenter (A,B), whereas the perfusion recovers partially in the penumbra (C,D). The difference between LEA and RECA as a general marker for blood vessels suggests that a subset of vessels is not being perfused. Data are shown as average plus SEM. Group sizes are five per time point of injury and eight sham operated animals. The horizontal broken lines represent the p values for LEA and the solid lines represent those for RECA. Differences between LEA and RECA are indicated by asterisks between the two data points. *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001 by ANOVA with Tukey's multiple comparison's test.