Figure 6.
Activation function (AF) 1 of estrogen receptor α (ERα) is necessary for the prevention of intimal hyperplasia by 17β-estradiol (E2). A, Four-week-old ERαAF1+/+ and ERαAF10/0 female mice were ovariectomized and subcutaneously treated with placebo (control) or 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, arteries were harvested for morphometric analysis. Left, Representative images of cross sections of femoral arteries of indicated mice stained with Masson Trichrome. Bars, 100 µm. Right, Quantitative analysis of neointima/media tissue ratio of indicated mice. Values are presented as mean±SEM (n=8–15 mice per group). As a statistical 2-way ANOVA revealed a significant interaction (P=0.04), it was followed by a Bonferroni post-test (**P<0.01). B and C, Four-week-old wild-type female mice were ovariectomized and subcutaneously implanted placebo or tamoxifen (4 mg/kg per day) pellets. Two weeks later, animals were submitted to mechanical injury of the femoral artery. Arteries were harvested 28 days after the injury for morphometric analysis. B, Left, Representative images of cross sections of femoral arteries of indicated mice stained with Masson Trichrome. Bars, 100 µm. Right, Quantitative analysis of neointima/media ratio of indicated mice. Values are presented as mean±SEM (n=7–12 mice per group), and statistically compared with Mann–Whitney test. **P<0.01. C, Representative images of uterus from indicated mice.