Placenta Growth Factor-1 Exerts Time-Dependent Stabilization of Adherens Junctions Following VEGF-Induced Vascular Permeability
Figure 6
PlGF-1 stabilizes both AJs and TJs in retinal vessels of mice following VEGF-induced vascular permeability.
The upper panel (a) shows representative confocal images of retinal vessels in flat mount preparations from control (no injection) C57BL/6 mice and animals receive a 1 µl intravitreal injection of: vehicle (PBS); VEGFA; hPlGF-1; simultaneous VEGFA + hPlGF-1; VEGFA followed by hPlGF-1 6 hours later. VEGF was given at a concentration of 60 ng/µl and hPlGF-1 at 60 ng/µl. 46 hours post the first injection mice received tail vein injections of FITC-labeled albumin. Two hours later, animals were perfusion fixed with paraformaldehyde. Retinas were prepared as flat mounts and immunostained with VE-cadherin or claudin-5 (red) and FITC-conjugated agglutinin to visualize retinal vessels. (n = 10-20 per group). Scale bar = 50 µM. The lower panel (b)shows representative merged higher power images of retinal vessels stained for VE-cadherin or claudin-5 (red) and FITC-conjugated agglutinin (green). Scale bar = 10 µM.