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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Dec 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2012 Sep 17;144(6):1486–1493. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2012.08.065

FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 2

Atorvastatin and angiogenesis. A, Endothelial cell density staining for CD31. Significant increase seen in capillary density in oral hypercaloric/hypercholesterolemic diet plus 1.5 mg/kg atorvastatin daily (OHCS) compared with oral hypercaloric/hypercholesterolemic diet (OHC) groups. B, Arteriolar density staining for smooth muscle actin. No significant increase was seen in arteriolar density in OHCS group compared with OHC. C, Western blot analysis of angiogenesis protein expression showing a significant increase in proangiogenic proteins endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), phosphorylated eNOS (peNOS), phosphorylated adenosine monophosphate kinase (pAMPK), phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (pERK), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and a significant decrease in Akt and phosphorylated Akt (pAkt). Also, a trend was seen toward decreased anti-angiogenesis protein angiostatin. *P<.05 and **P<.01. AMPK, Adenosine monophosphate kinase; HPF, high power field; VEGFR2, VEGF receptor 2.