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. 2005 Dec 22;116(1):59–69. doi: 10.1172/JCI25074

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Design and validation of experimental approach. (A) Schematic representation of the HSC transplantation experimental design. Bone marrow cells were harvested from 6- to 8-week-old apoE–/– donor mice and were transduced with macrophage-specific retroviral vectors encoding HA epitope–tagged EGFP (CD68S-HA-EGFP) or MMP-9 (CD68S–MMP-9) (29). After transduction, cells were injected intravenously into 35- to 45-week-old recipient apoE–/– mice. Mice were sacrificed 12 weeks after transplant, and lesion characteristics in the brachiocephalic artery were analyzed. (B–E) Analysis of retroviral gene expression in preestablished atherosclerotic lesions. Immunohistochemistry of similar lesions from apoE–/– mice transplanted with HSCs transduced with CD68S-HA-EGFP (B and C) or CD68S–MMP-9 (D and E) retroviruses reveals comparable levels of macrophage staining with an antibody recognizing MAC-2 (B and D). Only a subset of macrophages in lesions from mice receiving CD68S-HA-EGFP–transduced HSCs show reactivity with an antibody against the HA epitope (C and E). Original magnification, ×10 (B–E).