Fig. 1

Pharmacological blockade of TNFR1, but not TNFR2, reduced the angiogenic response in the cerebral ischemic penumbra. Frozen sections of ischemic penumbra taken from mice after 4, 7, or 14 days reperfusion following 90 min MCAO and having received daily i.c.v. injections of antibodies against TNFR1 or TNFR2 or control IgG, were stained for the endothelial-specific marker CD31 (AlexaFluor-488). a Daily injection TNFR1 antibody (50 ng/day), but not TNFR2 antibody, noticeably reduced CD31 positive blood vessel density in the ischemic penumbra compared with controls over the 14 days following MCAO. Scale bar = 100 μm. b Quantification of CD31+ vessels, in which each experiment was performed with five different animals at different time-points post-ischemia. The results are expressed as the mean ± SEM of the number of CD31+ vessels per FOV. Note that the anti-TNFR1 antibody (at doses of 50 and 100 ng/day), but not the anti-TNFR2 antibody, significantly reduced post-ischemic increases in vessel density in the ischemic penumbra following 14 days reperfusion. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 versus control