Figure 3. Radiation changes the blood flow and vessel structure.
Five minutes before sacrifice, mice were injected intravenously with 200μl (1mg) of a FITC-labelled dextran/0.9% NaCl solution (2000 kDa). Frozen sections were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde and images were captured using an Olympus VS120 fluorescence microscope. Analysis of renal perfusion showed that (A-B) non treated (NT) animals displayed a well-perfused honeycomb-like vascular network. This network was disturbed in radiated mice (C-F) and (G) the perfused vessel area was significantly reduced 20 weeks post-RT.