Figure 2. Increased Inflammation and Elastin Loss with Tobacco Smoke Exposure in Doxycycline Treated Animals.
Images are representative sections of aortas after EP stained with an elastin specific stain. Section (A) is from a normal, aorta. Sections (B – E) were harvested from animals 14 days after EP. In animals unexposed to TS and untreated with doxycycline, there is modest elastin loss and inflammatory cell infiltration (B). This effect is exacerbated by TS (C). When treated with doxycycline, the aortas derived from the room air exposed mice showed relatively minimal elastin damage (D). There was no effect of doxycycline on the aortic histology in the smoke-exposed mice (E).