Figure 5

Bone marrow vascularization. Amplitude A (A) and exchange rate constant Kep (B) was acquired by dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI; error bars: standard error) for α7KO (KO) and α7WT (WT). (C) Morphological images and color maps of parameters A and Kep acquired with T1 weighted morphological MRI and DCE-MRI from α7KO (upper row) and α7WT (lower row). All sections are shown in transversal orientation and contain the information of vascularization from the pelvis (white squares) as an example. The parameters are color-coded ranging from red (high values) to blue (low values). Immunohistochemical staining using a primary antibody against smooth muscle actin (SMA, red color) identified bone marrow vessels in α7WT (D) and α7KO (E) vertebrae L3. Bone marrow cells were counterstained with hematoxylin (purple). Bar: 10 μm.