Figure 5.

Plaque imaging of IL10-coupled NPs compared to uncoupled IL10.

Notes: Aortic sections of ApoE-deficient mice were incubated with (A) Atto655-labeled IL10, (B) IL10-coupled Atto655-labeled liposomes or (C) rhodamine-labeled IL10-coated proticles. Atto655 was purchased from ATTO-TEC GmbH, Siegen, Germany. The pictures show vertical fluorescence light images from atherosclerotic-plaques that are similar in size. Aortic sections were co-stained with anti-CD68 for macrophages (shown in blue) and with Hoechst (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) for nuclei (shown in red). By applying IL10 alone (a) the signal was found in deeper areas of the plaques which was comparable to IL10-Atto655-liposomes (b) where the signal was more condensed. IL10-Rho-proticles were found to greatly accumulate at the plaque surface area; arrows point to areas of strong co-localization with CD68 positive macrophages (c).

Abbreviations: IL10, interleukin 10; NPs, nanoparticles; lipo, Atto655-labeled liposomes; ApoE, apolipoprotein E; Rho, rhodamine.