Fig. 1

Two types of glio-vascular units in the adult brain. a Representative images of astrocytes (GFAP+ cells) exhibiting wrapping-type and endfoot-type morphologies with respect to neighboring blood vessels (CD31+ cells) in the Molecular layer (Mol) of the dentate gyrus. b Representative immunogold-stained electron micrographs of blood vessels contacted by a GFAP+ cell wrapping process (top) and a GFAP+ cell endfoot (bottom). Black dots show GFAP staining. Images are taken from the Mol of the dentate gyrus. c Cross section through the laminae of the dentate gyrus, showing astrocytes and associated blood vessels (Molecular layer, Mol; Granule Cell Layer, GCL; Hilus). On the right is a plot of the percentage of astrocytes exhibiting the wrapping type morphology in the Mol and Hilus. Two-tailed unpaired t-test, P = 0.966. d Histogram of distances between the center of the astrocytic nucleus and contacted endothelial cells. The inset depicts an astrocyte contacting a vessel via an endfoot and the calculated distance. e Representative images of wrapping-type and endfoot-type astrocytes in the auditory cortex. f Shown is a plot of the proportion of wrapping-type and endfoot-type astrocytes in primary auditory cortex. g Histogram of distances between the center of the astrocytic nucleus and contacted endothelial cells in primary auditory cortex. h Plot of the number of endfeet per astrocyte in different regions. One-way ANOVA F(3,93) = 5.587, P = 0.005. Post-hoc LSD tests, Mol vs Hilus, P = 0.001; Mol vs Ctx, P = 0.304; Hilus vs Ctx, P = 0.033. The scale bars are 10 μm. Data are plotted as mean +/− SEM. * indicates P < 0.05, ** indicates P < 0.01. n = 3–5 animals per experiment