FIG. 4.

Analysis of vessel painted brains in the ipsilateral cortex. (A) The number of junctions in the ipsilateral cortex was decreased between Sham and 1 day post-injury (dpi) mice (not significant for males, p = 0.18; **p < 0.01 for females). In contrast, the number of junctions is increased at 7 dpi compared with 1 dpi in males and females (**p < 0.01). No significant differences were observed between 7 dpi and Sham animals (p = 0.11 for males, and p = 0.93 for females). (B) Vessel density in the ipsilateral cortex was decreased between Sham and 1 dpi mice (*p < 0.05) but was increased at 7 dpi compared with 1 dpi (***p < 0.001). For the males the vessel density was significantly increased at 7 dpi compared with Shams (*p < 0.05). No difference in vessel density between males and females among Shams, 1 dpi, or 7 dpi groups was observed. (C) Distribution of the local fractal dimension (LFD) in the ipsilateral cortex for males and females in Sham, 1 dpi, and 7dpi. At 7 dpi, there was an increased complexity of the vascular network in males as evidenced by a rightward shift LFD shift, as well as an increased number of vessels in males, evidenced by a higher amplitude of the peak. (D,E) Analysis of the LFD distribution from the ipsilateral cortex shows a significant reduced skewness (D, **p < 0.01) and kurtosis (E, **p < 0.01) between males and females at 7 dpi. These results demonstrate an increased complexity of the vasculature (higher skewness) and an increased number of vessels (higher kurtosis) for the 7 dpi males.