Figure 2.

High incidence of AAA rupture and hematoma formation in C57/B6J mice treated with both AngII and BaP. Representative photomicrographs of aortic segments from heart to kidney, harvested from control and treated mice were shown (A). Five mice from the group treated with both AngII and BaP and one in the AngII-treated group showed AAA rupture and hematoma formation (solid arrow). No arterial rupture or hematoma formation was observed in the control group or in the group treated with BaP alone. In mice treated with AngII/BaP, the yellowish stain surrounding tissues (indicated by broken arrow) was tightly attached to the adventitial layer of the aorta (A). The difference in occurrence of AAA rupture and hematoma formation between the AngII-treated group and the group treated with both AngII and BaP was statistically significant (P < 0.05) (B).

Abbreviations: AAA, abdominal aortic aneurysm; AngII, angiotensin II; BaP, benzo(a)pyrene.