Letters adjacent to boxed areas in schematic representation of a brain coronal section (A) indicate areas where representative confocal microscopic images were taken.

<p>Panels B and C show YFP (green) and DCX (red) positive cells in non-ischemic (B) and ischemic SVZ (C) in middle-aged mice 30 days after stroke. Orthogonal views (D, E) show that a YFP immunoreactive cell (green) was DCX positive (D, red) or NeuN (NN) positive (E) in the ischemic striatum. Quantitative data analysis (F) shows percentage of YFP/DCX and YFP/NeuN positive cells in the ischemic striatum after treatment with saline and Sildenafil. *p<0.05 vs the saline group. n = 10/saline and n = 11/Sildenafil. Bar = 10 µm for B to E. Blue color = cell nuclei. CC = corpus callosum, and LV = lateral ventricle.