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. 2015 Apr 22;35(8):1260–1271. doi: 10.1038/jcbfm.2015.59

Figure 5.

Figure 5

Methamphetamine (METH) induces blood–brain barrier (BBB) disruption in the mice striatum via nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) pathway. Mice were administered with METH (4 × 10 mg/kg, intraperitoneally (i.p.), 2 hours apart) and killed 1, 2, and 24 hours after the last injection. (A) Representative images of collagen IV (green), a marker of basement membrane that surrounds the brain vessels, and albumin (red) that is a marker of BBB disruption. It was clearly shown that METH triggered a decrease in collagen and an increase in albumin staining already 1 hour after the last METH injection, reaching a peak after 2 hours. Interestingly, the effect is still present after 24 hours of the last METH injection. (B) Representative images and (C, D) quantification of (C) albumin and (D) collagen IV immunofluorescence show that METH increases albumin extravasation and decreases collagen IV at 2 hours after the last injection, which was completely prevented by the blockade of NF-κB pathway with BAY treatment (20 mg/kg, i.p., 30 minutes before each METH injection). Total brain sections were also stained with Hoechst 33342 (blue). Scale bar=20 μm. The results shown are means+S.E.M., n=18 visual fields acquired from three different animals of each experimental condition. *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001 significantly different when compared with the control (CTR); +P<0.01, +++P<0.001 significantly different when compared with METH (2 hours) using Bonferroni's Multiple comparison test.