Figure 4

Apoptosis of neurons and vascular endothelial cells. (A) Immunofluorescence study of the cortex of the OF pups 24 hours post-HI showed that cleaved caspase 3 was expressed mainly in neurons (NeuN) and vascular endothelial cells (RECA1), but very little in astrocytes (GFAP). n = 3 experiments. Scale bar = 100 μm. (B) Electronic microscope examination of vascular endothelial cells revealed normal endothelial cells in the OF pups (left panel), and early apoptotic changes, which included condensed and fragmented nuclei (arrowheads) and bleb-like cytoplasm (arrow) in the endothelial cells 24 hours post-HI in the OF-HI rats (right panel). Scale bar = 2 μm. The representative pictures were from the ipsilateral cortex in plate 31 of the rat-brain atlas [17].