Journal: Nature Communications

Article Title: Environmental enrichment and physical exercise prevent stress-induced social avoidance and blood-brain barrier alterations via Fgf2

doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-68058-9

Figure Lengend Snippet: A , Experimental timeline for inflammatory insult with TNF-α and FGF2 co-treatment. Once confluent (4 days), HBEC-5i or bEnd.3 were pretreated with FGF2 or vehicle for one hour and then stimulated with TNF-α or vehicle for up to 7 days. FGF2 alters mouse ( B ) and human ( C ) endothelial transcription in response to acute TNF-α stimulation. FGF2 promotes faster restoration of TNF-α-induced Cldn5 loss in mouse ( D ) and human ( E ) endothelial cells. Chronic stimulation with TNF-α leads to a reduction in endothelial monolayer integrity measured by trans-endothelial electrical resistance (TEER) in mouse ( F ) and human ( G ) endothelial cells. FGF2 co-treatment preserves normal TEER despite TNF-α. H 7 days of TNF-α treatment promotes spikes and discontinuities in Cldn5 tight junction strands in bEnd.3, which is reversed by FGF2 treatment (scalebar = 20 μm). Data represent mean ± s.e.m., and each experiment was replicated at least twice on independent samples. Group comparisons were evaluated with two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s post hoc tests; * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001, **** p < 0.0001.

Article Snippet: The human brain microvascular endothelial cell line HBEC-5i (ATCC CRL-3245, male donor according to https://www.cellosaurus.org/CVCL_4D10 ) and the mouse brain endothelial cell line bEnd.3 (ATCC CRL-2299) were subcultured and stored in banks at −150 ° C. Cells were thawed as needed and cultured in DMEM/F12 supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, 25 ug/mL gentamicin (Gibco), and 1X endothelial cell growth supplement (ScienCell).

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