Nuclear contrast angiography: a simple method for morphological characterization of cerebral arteries.
Visualization of the cerebral vascular tree is important in experimental stroke and cerebral vascular malformation research. We describe a simple method, nuclear contrast angiography, that enables simultaneous visualization of the arterial tree and cerebral endothelial cells in rodent brain whole mounts. A mixture of latex and black ink was injected into the arterial system of rodents, resulting in high contrast demarcation of the arterial tree of the brain. This method clearly differentiates arteries from veins. We applied this method to demonstrate that 14 days of unilateral carotid artery occlusion induces increases in the caliber of (1) bilateral anterior communicating arteries, (2) bilateral anterior cerebral arteries, and (3) ipsilateral proximal middle cerebral artery of the circle of Willis. Unlike other methods, this procedure selectively stains endothelial nuclei of arteries. Thus, cerebral endothelial nuclei can be visualized, quantitated, and morphologically characterized at the same time the cortical arterial tree is delineated. This method should be useful in studies of stroke and cerebral arteriogenesis, which require the accurate assessment of both arterial diameters and endothelial cell density.
Meng
He
H
Department of Neurology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5622, USA.
Peng
Yezi
Y
Hasan
Rushdee
R
Yu
Genggeng
G
Wang
Michael M
MM
D000818:Animals; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000503:physiopathology; D048429:Cell Size; D002533:Cerebral Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D002536:Cerebral Arteries / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012161:Retinal Artery / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology