Weisheng-Tang Ameliorates Acute Ischemic Brain Damage in Mice by Maintaining Blood-Brain Barrier Integrity

Figure 3

Effects of Weisheng-tang on BBB disruption following ischemic brain injury. Mice were pretreated via oral administration of 30, 100, or 300 mg/kg of Weisheng-tang () or PBS (control group, ) once per day for 4 days prior to ischemic insult, as well as 1 h prior to the procedure. Evans blue (4 mg/kg) was intravenously injected immediately following ischemic insult. (a) Representative photographs of Evans blue leakage in control or Weisheng-tang groups 1 h after ischemic injury and quantification of Evans blue extravasation. vs. control group. (b) Endothelial cell staining (CD31, green) shows significantly higher vessel density in the ipsilateral cerebral cortex of the Weisheng-tang-treated group ( in each group). vs. control group. . (c–e) Confocal images show costaining of tight junction proteins markers ZO-1 (zonula occludens-1) and claudin-5 (red) with CD31 (green) in the peri-infarct region of control and Weisheng-tang-treated mice. Mice pretreated with Weisheng-tang (300 mg/kg) exhibited increased expression of the tight junction proteins ZO-1 (c) and claudin-5 (d) following focal cerebral ischemia. Representative photographs of ZO-1 (c) and claudin-5 (d). CD31 staining for blood vessels indicated in green. . Quantification graphs of ZO-1 and claudin-5 immunofluorescence (e) ( each, vs. control group).

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