Fig. 2

EA preconditioning increased tight junction proteins and attenuated Evans blue extravasation and brain edema. a Representative photographs of Evans blue leakage in vehicle or EA-preconditioned mice brains 24 h after focal cerebral ischemia. The blue area shows extravasated Evans blue, indicating BBB disruption. b Quantitative analysis of Evans blue leakage (N = 6, *P < 0.05 compared with the vehicle group). c Quantitative analysis of water content (N = 5, *P < 0.05 compared with the vehicle group). d Western blots of tight junction proteins, ZO-1, occludin and claudin-5, in the ischemic cortex 24 h after focal cerebral ischemia. β-Actin was used as an internal control. e Densitometric analysis of the western blot bands of ZO-1, occludin and claudin-5 (N = 4, ** P < 0.01 compared with the vehicle group). Data are expressed as the means ± SEM. Veh, vehicle group