Dexamethasone Alleviates Tumor-Associated Brain Damage and Angiogenesis
Figure 7
Dexamethasone inhibits specifically tumor angiogenesis.
(A) DEXA treatment reduces tumor-induced vascular density. Top, tumor-implanted brain slices were analysed for vessels and morphological differences between tumor-implanted control groups (control) and dexamethasone treated groups were investigated. The dashed line designates the tumor core (top) from the peritumoral area (bottom). Vessel density in peritumoral area is reduced after 100 and 200 μg/ml DEXA treatment. Scale bar represents 100 μm. Bottom, quantitative analysis of vessel density in untreated controls and DEXA treated brain slices. Means are given with ± S.D. For statistical analysis the two tailed Student's t-test was applied and revealed *P<0.05 and n≥3. (B) DEXA treatment reduces newly formed tumor-induced vessels. Peritumoral area of tumor-implanted brain slices were analysed for vessels and differences in CD105 expression between tumor-implanted control groups (control) and dexamethasone treated groups were investigated. Laminin positive vessel structure is given in red (Left). CD105 positive endothelial cells are depicted in blue (middle). Merged images are shown on the right. Arrows indicate CD105 positive proliferating or newly formed endothelial cells. Scale bar represents 100 μm. (C) DEXA does not inhibit normal vessel growth. Native brain slices were treated with DEXA and vascular density was investigated. Quantitative analysis of vessel density in untreated brain slices (control) and DEXA treated brain slices. Scale bar, 50 μm. Means ± S.D. are given. For statistical analysis the two tailed Student's t-test was applied with *P<0.05 and n≥3.