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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Apr 14.
Published in final edited form as: Sci Transl Med. 2014 Nov 19;6(263):263ra158. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3009759

Fig. 4. Disrupted BBB tight junctions in the brains of germ- and pathogen-free adult mice.

Fig. 4

(A to C) Representative Western blots showing the expression of ZO-1, occludin, and claudin-5 in the (A) frontal cortex, (B) striatum, and (C) hippocampus of germ-free (GF) and pathogen-free (PF) adult mice. (D to F) Densitometric analysis of Western blots from protein samples of the (D) frontal cortex, (E) striatum, and (F) hippocampus of germ-free mice (white bars) compared with pathogen-free mice (black bars). Data were normalized for GAPDH expression and expressed as fold change, control fold (c.f.) PF. Values represent means ± SEM (6 to 10 mice per group). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, and ***P < 0.001 by Student’s t test compared with the corresponding pathogen-free mouse control. (G and H) Representative images of germ- and pathogen-free mouse cerebral motor cortex stained for endothelial cells with (G and H) anti-laminin, (G) anti-occludin, and (H) anti–claudin-5 antibodies. Scale bars, 20 µm. (I) Electron micrographs showing the disorganized tight junction structure between two endothelial cells in striatum (right panel, white arrows) of germ-free adult mice compared with striatum of pathogen-free mice (left panel). (J) Quantitative data indicate a decreased number of organized tight junctions in the striatum of germ-free mice compared with pathogen-free mice. Values represent means ± SEM (seven mice per group). ***P < 0.001 by Student’s t test.