Whole mount immunofluorescence staining for the expression of B₂ receptors in the middle cerebral artery wall following ischemia/reperfusion injury.

<p>Structures in blue are nuclei, while the B₂ immunofluorescence presents in green. The endothelial cell nuclei run in the length axis of the artery while the smooth muscle cell nuclei are arranged perpendicular to the endothelial cells. Filled arrows mark endothelial cells displaying high level of immunofluorescence while the empty arrow points to an endothelial cell with low level staining. Asterisks mark smooth muscle cell nuclei (randomized choice) which are not in the focus of the image due to the thickness of the vessel wall. The clustering of endothelial cells displaying a high level of B₂ receptor immunofluorescence was a typical finding, and we never found any immunofluorescent signal in smooth msucle cells.