Quantification of blood vessel density.

Blood vessel (BV) density was first quantified in the contralateral (control) hemisphere in the cortex and striatum of Nox2 WT and Nox2 KO mice at 24 h and 72 h post-stroke (A). Blood vessel density was then quantified in the stroke-affected striatum (core infarct) and cortex (penumbral region) at 24 h (n = 5 per group) and 72 h (n = 5 Nox2 WT, n = 8 Nox2 KO) recovery (B). Blood vessel density in the ipsilateral (stroke-affected) hemisphere is expressed as a percentage of that in the corresponding contralateral (non-affected; 100% control, dotted line) hemisphere. Data presented as mean +SD. **P<0.01, ***P<0.001 vs. contralateral control (100%), generalised linear mixed model; # P<0.05 vs. Nox2 WT, simple random effects model.