Fig. 1.

Expression of sonic hedgehog (Shh) correlates with autophagy in neointimal lesions of mouse common carotid arteries. Neointimal lesions were created by ligation of mouse common carotid arteries as described in the methods. A: representative micrographs of hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining of tissue sections from control (left) and ligated (right) arteries. B: representative Western blots (left) and quantitative data normalized to β-actin (right, *P < 0.05, n = 3) showed the expression levels of light chain 3 (LC3)-I (18 kDa), LC3-II (16 kDa), and Shh in the control and neointimal lesions. NI, neointima; L, lumen; M, media. C and D: tissue sections were stained for Shh (red, C), LC3 (red, D), and smooth muscle (SM) α-actin (green, C and D). The nuclei were counterstained with 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI, blue; C and D; original magnification, ×200).