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. 2003 Oct 8;23(27):9254–9262. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.23-27-09254.2003

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Not all vascular astrocytic end-foot processes are GFAP positive. A, GFAP immunolabeling of astrocytes in cortex. Individual astrocytes are star-shaped and distributed symmetrically, with minimal contact with neighboring astrocytes. Vascular processes differ from other processes by being straight, unbranched, and of wide diameter (red arrowheads). The surfaces of large to medium-size vessels were densely covered by GFAP+ astrocytic end feet. Inset, An astrocyte with two vascular processes. B, Double immunolabeling of AQP-4 (red) and GFAP (green). Aquaporin-4 immunolabeling reveals that the entire network of vessels, including capillaries, is covered by astrocytic processes, albeit GFAP negative. Smaller vessels and capillaries are mostly GFAP negative but display intense labeling against the astrocyte-specific channel AQP-4. The AQP-4 labeling reveals continuous coverage by astrocytic end feet. C-F, Examples of organization of GFAP in astrocytic end feet around larger vessels. C and D display examples of wagon-wheel or rosette formation of GFAP filaments in the vascular end feet, whereas E and F are examples on parallel arrays running perpendicular to the length of the vessel. C and E are double labeled against GFAP (green) and AQP-4 (red), whereas D and F are stained against GFAP only. Scale bar: inset, 40 μm; A, 10 μm; B, 60 μm; C, E, 5 μm; D, F, 30 μm.