Figure 3

Increased infarction volume and leakage and deteriorated neurological function in occludin-deficient mice. In the acute phase, the infarct volume (A) is larger in wild-type mice(n = 10) than in occludin-deficient mice(n = 10). The infarct volume of the area indicated by the black dotted line in A was quantified. Leakage of Evans blue (B) is higher in occludin-deficient mice (n = 5) than in wild-type mice (n = 5). Evans blue leakage was quantified in the infarcted hemisphere shown by the red dotted line and in the non-infarcted hemisphere shown by the black dotted line (B). The motor function of occludin-deficient mice (n = 12) was worse than that of wild-type mice (n = 13) in the grid test (C) and the cylinder test (D) from the acute to the chronic phase. The cerebral blood flow (CBF) images are shown in (E), and the box and whiskers with max and min of CBF is shown in (F). CBF was similar at each time point between wild-type mice and occludin-deficient mice. CBF was quantified in the area indicated by the black circle (E). An unpaired t-test was performed. *P < 0.05. Scale bar = 2 mm.