Research Paper Volume 11, Issue 16 pp 6120—6133

Figure 4. MiR-181a decelerates pericyte loss and blood-brain barrier breakdown in APP/PS1 mice. (A–D) Lentiviral empty vector or lentiviral miR-181a expressing vector was injected into the hippocampus of APP/PS1 mice aged 5-month-old or 8-month-old. Wild-type age-matched littermates were used as controls. Eight mice were included in each group. One month later, mice were used for subsequent biochemical analyses. (A) The representative immunofluorescent images of CD13-positive pericytes (red) and lectin-positive capillary endothelium (green) in 9-month-old WT and APP/PS1 mice. Scale bar, 100 μm. (B) Quantification of CD13-positive pericytes in the cortex and hippocampus of 6-month-old or 9-month-old WT and APP/PS1 mice. Results represent the number of CD13-positive pericytes per mm². (C–D) The level of IgG in capillary-depleted cortical extracts from WT mice and 6-month-old or 9-month-old APP/PS1 mice was determined by Western blotting analysis. β-actin was used as a loading control. The representative blot images (C) and quantification analysis of IgG level (D) are shown. All data are mean ± SD, and compared by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post-hoc tests. **, P < 0.01.