Figure 4

Early exercise promoted angiogenesis in ischemic cortex. In the early exercise group, intensive blood vessels (CD31⁺endothelial cells) were found in perilesional zone (C). In contrast, in non-exercised group (B), the density of micro vessels was much lower than the early exercise (C) and sham groups (A). The red dotted line indicated the infarct zone in upper left corner. (D) Quantification of the CD31⁺ cells showed that there was a significantly greater micro vessels density in the early exercise group. n = 6 for each group. *p<0.05, versus the no-exercise group; #, p<0.05, versus the sham group.