Fig 1: Iron density in the choroid plexus is strongly increased in LEWzizi rats. (A) Iron patterns (TBB staining) in the choroid plexus within the lateral ventricle (LV) and dorsal 3rd ventricle (D3V) of 4-months-old (4M) Lewis and LEWzizi rats. Scale bars, 100 µm. (B) Total iron density of choroid plexus. Each data point represents the average of densitometric measurements of iron densities from lateral ventricles, dorsal 3rd ventricles, 4th ventricles and lateral recesses of the 4th ventricle of an individual rat. AU, arbitrary units. (C) Densitometric measurements of iron density in the choroid plexus within the lateral ventricles (orange), dorsal 3rd ventricles (blue), 4th ventricles (magenta) and lateral recesses of the 4th ventricle (green) in 4M Lewis and LEWzizi rats. AU, arbitrary units. (D) Detailed iron patterns of a choroid plexus in the lateral ventricle of a 4M LEWzizi rat. Scale bar, 50 µm. (E) Ratio of albumin concentrations (QAlb) between paired CSF and blood plasma samples taken from 4M Lewis and LEWzizi rats. (F) Iron levels within the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 4M Lewis and LEWzizi rats. (G and H) Densitometric quantification of ferroportin (G; FPN) and aquaporin-1 (H; AQP1) expression in choroid plexuses within the lateral ventricles of 4M Lewis and LEWzizi rats. AU, arbitrary units. (I and J) Apical expression of ferroportin (I) and aquaporin-1 (J) in choroid plexus epithelial cells. Representative pictures were taken from choroid plexuses in lateral ventricles of 4M Lewis and LEWzizi rats. Scale bars, 50 µm. (B, E-H) Reported statistics results from unpaired, two-tailed Student's t-tests. (C) Reported statistics result from one-way ANOVAs. (b, c, e-g) Dots represent individual rats; error bar ± SD; *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ****p < 0.0001; ns, not significant