Figure 3. ABT-263 treatment of SMC (Myh11-CreER^T2-eYFP) and EC (Cdh5-CreER^T2-eYFP) lineage tracing Apoe^–/– mice with advanced atherosclerotic lesions had no effect on lesion size but increased mortality.

(A) Experimental design. SMC and EC lineage tracing Apoe^–/– mice were fed a WD for 18 weeks followed by ABT-263 treatment on western diet (WD) for 6 weeks. (B) Probability of survival (Kaplan-Meier curve). (C) Representative 10× images of MOVAT staining on brachiocephalic artery (BCA). Scale bar: 100 μm. (D) Lesion area from C. (E) Lumen area from C. (F) External elastic lamina (EEL) area from C, for outward remodeling. (G) Aortic roots stained with MOVAT. Scale bar: 100 μm. (H) Lesion area quantification from G. (I) Representative Sudan-IV–stained aortas from vehicle or ABT-263 treatment. (J) Quantification of % Sudan-IV+ aorta. (K) Representative 10x images of Picrosirius red staining on Brachiocephalic Artery (BCA). Scale bar: 100 μm. (L) Quantification of matured (red) collagen content normalized to lesion area from K. A repeated-measures 2-way ANOVA method was used for statistical analysis in D–F, whereas Mann-Whitney U tests were used for statistical analysis in H, J, and L. Biologically independent animals are indicated as individual dots; data are shown as mean ± SEM. A Mantel-Cox test was used for statistical analysis in B. The P values are indicated on the respective graphs.