Fig. 2.

Vascular β4 integrin expression is strongly upregulated during the development of EAE. a Time course of increasing EAE severity (clinical score) with time post-immunization. b Quantification of the number of blood vessels expressing β4 integrin in frozen sections of the medulla oblongata during EAE progression. Note that significant upregulation of endothelial β4 integrin was detected 7 days post-immunization and peaked after 21 days. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01. c Frozen sections of the medulla oblongata at different time points of EAE progression were dual-stained using antibodies specific for the endothelial marker CD31 (AlexaFluor-488, green) and β4 integrin (Cy3, red). Scale bar = 100 μm. Note that in the disease-free brain (0 days), β4 integrin was expressed by only a fraction of CD31-positive vessels, but the number of vessels expressing β4 integrin gradually increased with EAE progression, such that by the acute stage of EAE (day 21), the vast majority of blood vessels expressed β4 integrin, and this expression was maintained high through to the chronic stage (day 35)