Fig. 9

Local vascular induction after brain-VBM grafting. After surgery, CD31 immunostaining (A, endothelial cell marker) and toluidine blue staining showed angiogenesis at the proximal area (peripheral area surrounding the VBM grafts) even at 7 days after grafting, and more blood vessels were regenerated at proximal and distal areas. TEM indicated the luminal morphology of regenerated blood vessels at different time points and regions. The vessel wall at the distant regions was smooth and thin, while the wall of regenerated blood vessels near the lesion border was thick and wrapped with cells. B, C, and D show the relationship between the distance and blood vessel density and the relationship between the distance and the thickness of the blood vessels inside the lesion site. DCX and CD31 double immunostaining (E) revealed that inside the lesion site, the cells wrapping around the vascular wall (CD31⁺) were neurons (DCX⁺) in the early stage, with 17.6% of the vascular wall enveloped with DCX⁺ cells, which increased to 34.6% in the later stage). Red dashed lines are boundaries between lesion sites and host tissues