To measure BBB permeability, Evans blue (EB) dye was used as a tracer, as previously described (27 (link)). Briefly, the rats were injected with 2% EB solution diluted in normal saline through the tail vein (2 ml/kg of body weight; Sigma-Aldrich; Merck KGaA) 24 h post-surgery. The EB dye was allowed to circulate for 2 h. Next, the rats were anesthetized and transcardially perfused using 0.9% sodium chloride. The brains were removed, divided into left and right hemispheres, then the right hemisphere was immersed in formamide (10 ml/kg; Sigma-Aldrich; Merck KGaA) at 60˚C for 24 h. Cortical proteins were formamide extracted and centrifuged (2,500 x g) for 10 min at 4˚C. A total of 1 ml supernatant was measured in a spectrophotometer at 620 nm to compare EB content in the brain tissue with standard EB solution.