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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 Aug 27.
Published in final edited form as: Circ Res. 2009 Jan 2;104(4):455–465. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.108.182568

Fig. 1. CATK immunostaining and Cathespin activity are induced in atherosclerotic lesion-containing aortas of Apoe−/−, Npc1−/− mice compared to Apoe−/− controls.

Fig. 1

A. Immunofluorescent staining of aortic cross-sections using specific antibodies against CATK (red, white arrows) and α-actin (green). Blue is hoechts staining. M, media; Pl, plaque; Thr, thrombus. 10X magnification. Mice were chow-fed and 10-wk-old. B. Ex vivo fluorescence reflectance imaging of mouse aortas using a probe that reports on cysteinyl protease activity. A visible light image indicates formation of early atherosclerotic changes in the aortas of Apoe−/− mice. A NIRF channel detected no substantial red signal in control. Npc1 mutation increased NIRF signal intensity in the aortas, particularly at the level of aortic root. C. Quantification of NIRF signal intensities (the target-to-background ratio, n=3).