Fig. 4.

Endothelial and adventitial MMP-2 protein expression is decreased in mUA in LPLN-treated rats. A: mUAs were dissected from LP and LPLN-treated animals, fixed, paraffin-embedded, cross-sectioned, and analyzed using immunofluorescence to detect both pro and active forms of MMP-2 (red). DAPI was used to stain nuclei (blue). Images were taken at ×25 and ×100 as described in materials and methods. Bar = 50 μm. DAPI images represent the secondary antibody control images where there was no incubation with primary antibody. B: MMP-2 protein immunofluorescence was quantified using the integrated intensity function on MetaMorph software and normalizing for area measured. Relative integrated intensity is expressed as a ratio to LP control per area (μm²). LPLN arteries had significantly decreased MMP-2 expression in the endothelial and adventitial layers. MMP-2 was unchanged by l-NAME in the vascular smooth muscle. *P < 0.05 by Student's t-test; n = 6 LP; n = 5 LPLN.