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. 2022 Aug 22;119(5):1279–1294. doi: 10.1093/cvr/cvac138

Figure 3.

Figure 3

Early atherosclerotic plaques show clonal VSMC investment. (A and B) Representative confocal images showing VSMC contribution to early lesions in arterial cryosections of high fat diet (HFD)-fed lineage-labelled Myh11-Confetti-Apoe animals (n = 9, 6.5–15 weeks of high fat diet, HFD). Confetti (CFP: blue, RFP: red, YFP: yellow, GFP: green) and DAPI (white) signals are shown. (A) Single Z-plane, 6.5 weeks HFD, scale bar = 60 μm. (B) Maximum projection, 15 weeks HFD. Magnified views of boxed regions are shown on the right. Scale bar = 180 μm (left), 65 μm (top right), or 45 μm (lower right). (C–E) Confetti colour distribution in lesions from Myh11-Confetti-Apoe animals. Bar graphs show the percentage of plaques where 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 Confetti colours were detected, stratified by time of HFD (C, 6.5 weeks: total of 95 lesions in four animals or 11 weeks: total of 55 lesions in three animals), plaque size from very small (VS) to very large (VL). (D, VS: 17 lesions total, S: 49, M: 47, L: 27, VL: 10) and overall number of lineage-labelled VSMCs in the plaque (E, 4–10 Confetti+ cells: 24 lesions total, 11–50: 36, 51–100: 19, >100: 30).