Fig. 4

Beneficial effect of artemether plus RRx-001 treatment in pial arterioles and blood flow from late-stage ECM mice. Mice were either left untreated (n = 7; white quare) or were treated after day 7 with RRx-001 (IV at 10 mg/kg; n = 7 mice; red circle) or artemether alone (IP at 50 mg/kg; n = 7, blue diamond), or 10 mg/kg IV of RRx-001 plus 50 mg/kg IP of artemether (n = 7, red circle with blue border). a. Changes in arteriolar diameter relative to before infection. Vessel diameter remained unchanged until day 7. Untreated animals showed rapid progression of vasoconstriction. Treatment presented arteriolar vessel diameter compared to untreated. RRx-001 alone and in combination with artemether prevented the vasoconstriction. b. Changes in arteriolar blood flow relative to before infection. Blood flow decreased to 60 % of before infection by day 7 after infection. Blood flow in untreated animals continue decreasing to 20–30 % by day 9 after infection. Treatment presented blood flow at around 60 % before infection, with the exception that RRx-001 in combination with artemether restored blood flow to 80 % before infection