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. 2013 Dec 11;8(12):e82135. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0082135

Figure 1. Nexn overexpression promotes the contractile phenotype of VSMCs and inhibits balloon injury-induced neointima formation.

Figure 1

(A) VSMCs infected with Adv-Nexn with GFP reporter gene (green) showed a contractile phenotype with enhanced F-actin bundling (red) compared with Adv-GFP control (×200). Nuclei were stained in blue by DAPI. (B) Expression of contractile markers was induced in VSMCs infected with Adv-Nexn by RT-PCR, 18 s as loading control. (C) VSMCs was infected with Adv-Nexn, expression of Nexn was detected by western-blot (C1), and cell growth was arrested by Nexn with MTT assay. Data presented are mean ± SD from at least 3 independent experiments. *P<0.05 by Student's t-test. (D) Balloon injury was performed in the right common carotid artery with adenovirus containing Ad-GFP or Ad-Nexn infused into the injured arteries. 2 weeks after balloon injury, control uninjured and balloon-injured arteries were isolated, sectioned, stained with H & E (D1), and I/M ratios (intima/media) were calculated (D2). *P<0.05 by Student's t-test (n = 6 rats).