Figure 7. Cocaine elicited vasoconstriction in superficial layers and angiogenesis in deep layers of the sensorimotor cortex.

(A) Upper row: cerebrovascular images acquired with μOCA on day 0 and day 28 after cocaine exposures (35 mg/kg/day, i.p.); arterial and venous vessels are marked in red and blue dashed lines. Solid bars are marked for vessel size quantification. Lower row: corresponding microvasculature density maps of deep layers; dashed black circles outline the regions of most eminent angiogenesis surrounding areas with vessel vasoconstriction. (B) Time-lapse vasoconstriction in arteries and veins, (C) time-lapse microvascular density changes in superficial and deep cortical layers, and (D) VEGF upregulation. Vasoconstriction and angiogenesis (B and C) were tested for significant difference using one-way repeated measures ANOVA followed by a post-hoc test (Holm-Sidak method) with n = 5. Unpaired 2-tailed Student’s t tests were performed for statistical analysis, and average values are shown as the mean ± SD in D, with n_ctrl = 5, n_4w-cc = 3, and n_withdraw = 5. **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. Scale bar: 500 μm.