Figure 1.

GroEL accelerates AAA formation in CaCl₂ immersion-induced mice. (A) After the experiment, the total aortas of the rats were removed, and images were captured using a digital camera (left panel/green background). The black arrows indicate aneurysm lesions. The dissected abdominal aortas were then analyzed using micro-CT. Representative images of the tissues from each group are presented in the right panel (black background). The white arrows indicate vascular calcification and aneurysm lesions. (B) Graph presenting the AAA incidence of each group. (C) The upper column shows the abdominal aortas from rats stained with H&E. The images are 100× magnified. The arrowheads indicate aneurysm lesions. The lower column presents the integrity of the elastic fibers of abdominal aorta cross-sections observed using VVG staining. The images are 400× magnified. (D,E) Graphs displaying the quantification of the luminal diameter (D) and total length of elastic fibers (E). All the results in the graphs are expressed as the mean ± SD. * Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.