Fig. 4.

Defective autophagy in VSMCs enhances aortic vessel wall thickness. Hematoxylin/eosin staining (a) with quantification of vessel wall thickness (b) and number of VSMCs (c) as well as orcein staining (d) with quantification of the elastin amount (e) and number of elastin breaks (f) in aortic segments of Atg7^+/+ SM22α-Cre⁺ (+/+) or Atg7^F/F SM22α-Cre⁺ (F/F) animals (n = 6–7). Measurements were performed in two segments (S1 and S2) of each aorta. Two-way ANOVA with segment and genotype effect indicated and with Sidak’s multiple comparisons post-test. *p < 0.05. Scale bar = 100 µm