Figure 5.

Cerebral capillaries are impaired in the brains of 5XFAD mice. A, Coronal serial sections of brains from 8-month-old mice (n = 3 for each from littermates and 5XFAD mice) were costained with anti-GLUT-1 (red) and anti-Aβ (green; 4G8) antibodies and imaged by confocal microscopy. Capillaries stained with anti-GLUT-1 antibody (red) showed long tubular-like form in littermate mice. 5XFAD mice displayed amyloid plaque deposition (green) and cut capillary forms (the parts shown in the yellow dotted circle). Capillaries adjacent to the amyloid plaques displayed disconnected tubular-like form in 5XFAD in the merged images (the parts shown in the white dotted circle). Scale bar, 40 μm. B, 3D-SIM images of the brains from littermates and 5XFAD mice. Brain slices were each recorded by 3D-SIM images in the z-direction with a thickness of 0.150 μm, reconstructed, and made into a 3D volume image with α blending function. Axial directions were represented on each image. Capillaries stained with anti-GLUT-1 antibody (red) and amyloid plaque stained with anti-Aβ (green; 4G8) antibody. Arrow, sectioned z-axis image; arrowhead, damaged microvessel. Scale bar, 2 μm. 3D depth, 4.65 μm in littermate and 5.45 μm in 5XFAD.