Fig. 1.

Experimental procedure and the colocalization relationship between CFA and other pathological phenomena. (A) Schematic diagram of the experimental procedure, including steps such as high-fat diet feeding for modeling, harvesting the aortic arch, sectioning and staining, as well as observation and statistical analysis. (B) Masson staining image of the site of AS occurrence. The Col fibers and muscle fibers in healthy area show clear orientation, whereas both are random in diseased area, with a very distinct boundary between the 2 regions. (C) α-SMA IHC of oriented and random regions. The oriented regions show clear directional alignment of SMCs and their nuclei, while the random regions show nearly round-shaped SMCs and nuclei. (D) Anx A2 IHC of the oriented and random regions. The content of Anx A2 is markedly elevated in random regions. (E) Alizarin Red staining image of the oriented and random regions. Cal only occurs in random regions. (F) SEM images and statistical analysis of the fiber angle distribution. CFA differs markedly between the 2 regions (n = 100). The staining, IHC, and SEM section images are from 5 different mice, and the angle analysis statistics are derived from the SEM images.