Figure 3.

Loss of endothelial estrogen receptor α (ERα) expression does not affect the action of E2 action on intimal hyperplasia. Four-week-old Tie2Cre^- ERα^lox/lox and Tie2Cre⁺ ERα^lox/lox female mice were ovariectomized and subcutaneously treated with placebo (control) or 17β-estradiol (E2) until the end of the protocol. At 6 weeks, mice were submitted to mechanical injury of the femoral artery. Twenty-eight days later, mice were euthanized, and arteries were harvested for morphometry (A) and immunostaining (B). A, Top, Representative images of cross sections of femoral arteries of indicated mice stained with Masson Trichrome. Bars, 100 µm. Bottom, Quantitative analysis of neointima/media ratio of indicated mice. Values are presented as mean±SEM (n=8 mice per group). A statistical 2-way ANOVA test revealed no significant interaction. The overall effect of the treatment was ***P_treatment<0.001. B, Representative images of injured femoral arteries cross sections of indicated mice, stained with anti-CD31 antibody and counterstained with DAPI (blue). Bars, 100 µm.