Figure 3

Pericyte coverage and leakage of fibrinogen in B16F10 tumors grown inShb+/+ and +/− mice. Sections from B16F10 melanomas were stained for CD31 (red) + desmin (green) (A) or CD31 (red) + fibrin (green) (B). Representative images are shown at the magnifications indicated. FITC-Dextran-70 K leakage was also determined by direct immunofluorescence of frozen sections of tumors after injection of the fluorescent dye (C). The percentage vessel coverage by pericytes was quantitated (D), as well as fibrin staining outside the CD31-lines vessel divided by the corresponding value contained within the CD31-positive structure (E). FITC-Dextran fluorescence was determined by Photoshop and given as relative values (F). Means ± SEM are given and five tumors each genotype were analyzed. The value of each tumor was based on five images. * and ** indicate p < 0.05 and 0.01, respectively, by Students’ t-test.