Abstract
To clarify a role of the glial cells during a change in cerebral microvasculature, morphological transformation of the glial cells under chronic hypoxia was determined using in vivo two-photon laser scanning fluorescence microscopy in the mouse brain exposed to 21 days of hypoxia (8-9% oxygen). A volume of the soma and number of processes of the glial cells were quantified with custom-written software. We observed that a volume of the soma significantly increased at days 7 and 21 after initiation of hypoxia exposure. On the other hand, a number of the major processes was observed to increase monotonically. A statistically significant difference in the number density of the glial processes was found after 14 days of hypoxia, compared to pre-hypoxia control conditions. Furthermore, this increase in the number density of the major processes was remarkable around the capillary. The findings indicate that the glial processes may interact with the vascular cells during hypoxia-induced adaptation of cerebral microvasculature.
