Fig. 1.

Experimental stroke increases HTf extravasation into ischemic tissue and HTf increases OGD-induced neuronal death. (A) Representative TTC-stained brain slices of a rat exposed to tMCAO (ligature) plus 24 h reperfusion; scale bar, 1 cm. (B) Representative WB showing Tf and tubulin bands in the ischemic area (Ipsi) at 2 h postreperfusion and in a mirror area in the contralateral cortex (Contra) or in Control rats (Left and Right). (C) Transferrin/Tubulin ratio from WB bands as in (B) (n = 4 per group; paired t-test: *p = 0.0451). (D) WB NIR-hHTf*. Representative (E) raw fluorescence and (F) heat-map images of the brain of a rat exposed to tMCAO, injected i.v. with NIR-hHTf* and allowed to reperfuse for 2 h. (G) Quantification of the NIR-hHTf* fluorescence in the hemispheres after tMCAO/2 h reperfusion (n = 6; paired t-test: **p = 0.0072). Representative histological mouse brain slice images obtained using (H) cresyl violet or (I) immunohistofluorescence for NeuN (green), Tf (red) and nuclei (blue). Brains were obtained from mice exposed to thromboembolic stroke plus 24 h reperfusion. (J-K) show magnified images; scale bars, 100 µm (in J) and 20 µm (in K).