Maternal immune activation leads to defective brain blood vessels and intracerebral hemorrhages in male offspring (2022)
Figure 1

Figure 1. GD9 Poly I:C-induced MIA causes sex-specific remodeling of the brain vessels and BBB breakdown.

A. 3D rendering of the cerebrovascular tree in brain slices from male P90 Ctrl and Poly I:C MIA offspring stained with intravascular DiI (red). Scale bar = 50 µm.

B. DiI-positive blood vessels geometry analysis - quantification of blood vessel number, diameter (mean and cumulative frequency distribution), length, number of branch segments and average branch length - of P90 male Ctrl and Poly I:C MIA offspring. Vessel number for Ctrl (20.93 ± 1.73) and Poly I:C (27.41 ± 1.99) MIA offspring, Mann-Whitney U test, **p < .01. Mean diameter for Ctrl (5.58 ± 0.01) and Poly I:C (4.96 ± 0.01) MIA offspring, Mann-Whitney U test, ****p < .0001. Total length of vessel per image for Ctrl (6.12 ± 0.76) and Poly I:C (9.83 ± 1.48) MIA offspring, Mann-Whitney U test, **p < .01. Number of branches for Ctrl (9.60 ± 0.54) and Poly I:C (15.80 ± 1.21) MIA offspring, Mann-Whitney U test, *p < .05. Average branch length for Ctrl (34.07 ± 1.35) and Poly I:C (33.47 ± 1.67) MIA offspring.

C. 3D rendering of the cerebrovascular tree in brain slices from female P90 Ctrl and Poly I:C MIA offspring stained with intravascular DiI (red). Scale bar = 50 µm.

D. DiI-positive blood vessels geometry analysis - quantification of blood vessel number, diameter (mean and cumulative frequency distribution), length, number of branch segments and average branch length - of P90 female Ctrl and Poly I:C MIA offspring. Vessel number for Ctrl (9.97 ± 1.18) and Poly I:C (8.61 ± 0.78) MIA offspring. Mean diameter for Ctrl (5.77 ± 0.03) and Poly I:C (6.16 ± 0.02) MIA offspring, Mann-Whitney U test, ****p < .0001. Total length of vessel per image for Ctrl (3.23 ± 0.50) and Poly I:C (2.97 ± 0.30) MIA offspring. Number of branches for Ctrl (10.50 ± 0.87) and Poly I:C (7.24 ± 0.44) MIA offspring. Average branch length for Ctrl (38.06 ± 2.17) and Poly I:C (46.93 ± 1.49) MIA offspring, Mann-Whitney U test, ***p < .001.

E. Quantification of in-vivo brain permeability at P30 in male Ctrl (0.00 ± 0.00) and Poly I:C (3.68 ± 1.98) treated offspring, Mann-Whitney U test, p=0.060.

F. Quantification of Evans Blue (EB) analysis of in-vivo brain permeability at P90 (top) and representative pictures (bottom) of perfused brains from Male Ctrl (left; 0.00 ± 0.00) and Poly I:C (right; 20.32 ± 10.95) offspring. Mann-Whitney U test, *p < .05. In accompanying pseudocolor images - blue pixels are represented as a gradient of light-to-dark blue depending on the intensity of the color in the original photo while the absence of blue tones is represented as green.

G. Quantitative analysis of the optical density of Claudin-5 (CLDN5) immunoreactive bands normalized to Calnexin (CANX) in cortices from P90 male Ctrl (0.99 ± 0.09) and Poly I:C (0.58 ± 0.05) offspring. Mann-Whitney U test, **p < .01.

H. Quantitative analysis of the optical density of ZO-1 immunoreactive bands normalized by α-Tubulin (αTUB) in cortices from P90 male Ctrl (1.00 ± 0.04) and Poly I:C (0.75 ± 0.08) offspring. Student's t test, *p < .05.

I. Quantification of in-vivo brain permeability at P30 in female Ctrl (0.58 ± 0.17) and Poly I:C (0.31 ± 0.14) treated offspring.

J. Quantification of Evans Blue (EB) analysis of in-vivo brain permeability at P90 (top) and representative pictures (bottom) of perfused brains from Female Ctrl (left; 0.70 ± 0.47) and Poly I:C (right; 0.10 ± 0.10) offspring. In accompanying pseudocolor images - blue pixels are represented as a gradient of light-to-dark blue depending on the intensity of the color in the original photo while the absence of blue tones is represented as green.

K. Quantitative analysis of the optical density of Claudin-5 (CLDN5) immunoreactive bands normalized by CANX in cortices from P90 female Ctrl (1.00 ± 0.16) and Poly I:C (1.39 ± 0.13) offspring.

L. Quantitative analysis of the optical density of ZO-1 immunoreactive bands normalized by αTUB in cortices from P90 female Ctrl (1.00 ± 0.11) and Poly I:C (1.19 ± 0.19) offspring.

M. Representative images of P90 Ctrl and Poly I:C male offspring cortices stained for TJs proteins. Claudin-5 (top-green) and ZO-1 (bottom-red) - Scale bar = 10 µm.

N. Quantitative analysis of mean intensity of CLDN5 in cortices from P90 male Ctrl (75.14 ± 1.08) and Poly I:C (67.39 ± 2.00) offspring. Student's t test, *p < .05.

O. Quantitative analysis of the CLDN5 signal volume in cortices from P90 male Ctrl (5.54 ± 0.59) and Poly I:C (3.70 ± 0.48) offspring. Student's t test, *p < .05.

P. Quantitative analysis of mean intensity of ZO-1 in cortices from P90 male Ctrl (73.16 ± 0.59) and Poly I:C (73.86 ± 1.94) offspring.

Q. Quantitative analysis of the ZO-1 signal volume in cortices from P90 male Ctrl (23.29 ± 1.42) and Poly I:C (16.78 ± 2.18) offspring. Student's t test, *p < .05.

R. Graphical representation of MIA experimental design. Pregnant mice at GD9 were exposed to vehicle (Ctrl) or Poly I:C and the progeny, separated by sex, analyzed at different time-points (i.e., E17, P30, P90). The figures were adapted and modified from Servier Medical Art (http://smart.servier.com/).

S. Graphical representation of adult immune-challenge experimental design. P20 male mice were exposed to vehicle (Ctrl) or Poly I:C to be analyzed at P90. The figures were adapted and modified from Servier Medical Art (http://smart.servier.com/).

T. [Left] Quantification of in-vivo cerebrovascular permeability to EB of P90 Ctrl (0.16 ± 0.16) and Poly I:C-treated (0.89 ± 0.89) males injected at P20. [Right] Representative pictures of saline perfused brains 24h after the EB injection accompanied by pseudocolor images - blue pixels are represented as a gradient of light-to-dark blue depending on the intensity of the color in the original photo while the absence of blue tones is represented as green - from Ctrl (top) and Poly I:C (bottom) male mice.

U. Quantitative analysis of the optical density of CLDN5 immunoreactive bands normalized to CANX in cortices from P90 Ctrl (0.99 ± 0.12) and Poly I:C (0.98 ± 0.10) males treated at P20.

V. Quantitative analysis of the optical density of ZO-1 immunoreactive bands normalized to CANX in cortices from P90 Ctrl (1.00 ± 0.11) and Poly I:C (0.73 ± 0.05) males treated at P20.

Data information: Ctrl males = white bars with blu border. Poly I:C males = blu bars with blu border. Ctrl females = white bars with purple border. Poly I:C females = purple bars with purple border. In Fig.1 B and D black dotted lines represent the Ctrl while the blue and purple solid line represent the male Poly I:C and female Poly I:C offspring respectively. Numbers in bars indicate the number of animals (N) and images (n). Bars represent mean ± SEM.