Figure 4.

Evaluation of BBB permeability of 3 week-old normoglycemic Lepr^db/db and control mice. (a) Average blood glucose levels (left) and average body weight (right) of Lepr^db/db and control mice. (b) Representative images of cortical coronal sections from 10 kDa dextran challenges showing the overall view of normal functioning vessels, both in the diabetic and the control groups. (c,d) Leakage quantification shows average leakage incidence (c) and distribution of leakage areas (d) of 10 kDa dextran in 3 week-old normoglycemic Lepr^db/db and control mice (a,c – P < 0.05, ns – non significant, d – P = 0.447 unpaired two-tailed Student’s t-test, all data are mean ± s.e.m). (e) Examples of 10 kDa dextran extravasations in cortical coronal sections from vessels of 3 week-old normoglycemic Lepr^db/db mice. The image demonstrates examples of the most severe leakage incidents. Scale bar 100 μm. Bg - blood glucose, Bw - Body weight. n = 5 mice for each group (d − n = 31 leakage incidents per group).