The formation of new blood vessels and the establishment of vascular networks are crucial during brain development, in the adult healthy brain, as well as in various diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). Here, we describe a method that enables hierarchical imaging and computational analysis of vascular networks in postnatal- and adult mouse brains. Resin-based vascular corrosion casting, scanning electron microscopy, synchrotron radiation and desktop uCT imaging, and computational network analysis are used. Combining these methods enables detailed visualization and quantification of the three-dimensional (3D) brain vasculature. Network features such as vascular volume fraction, branch point density, vessel diameter, -length, -tortuosity, and -directionality as well as extravascular distance can be obtained at any developmental stage from the early postnatal to the adult brain. Our method allows characterizing brain vascular networks separately for capillaries and non-capillaries. The entire protocol, from mouse perfusion to vessel network analysis, takes approximately 10 days.

中文翻译：

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整个产后和成年小鼠大脑中三维血管网络架构的分层成像和计算分析

在成年人的健康大脑以及中枢神经系统（CNS）的各种疾病的大脑发育过程中，新血管的形成和血管网络的建立至关重要。在这里，我们描述了一种能够对出生后和成年小鼠的大脑中的血管网络进行分层成像和计算分析的方法。使用基于树脂的血管腐蚀铸件，扫描电子显微镜，同步辐射和台式uCT成像以及计算网络分析。结合使用这些方法可以对三维（3D）脑血管系统进行详细的可视化和量化。网络功能，例如血管体积分数，分支点密度，血管直径，-长度，-曲折度，从出生后早期到成年大脑的任何发育阶段都可以获得定向性和血管外距离。我们的方法可以分别表征毛细血管和非毛细血管的脑血管网络。从小鼠灌注到血管网络分析的整个过程大约需要10天。