Figure 1. Quaking is expressed in macrophages within atherosclerotic lesions.

(a) Pan-QKI mRNA expression levels in CD68⁺ macrophages of early and advanced atherosclerotic lesions isolated by laser-capture microdissection (n=4). Data expressed as mean±s.e.m.; Student's t-test, *P<0.05. Scale bar, 50 μm. (b) Immunohistochemical analysis of co-localization of pan-QKI and CD68 expression in preliminary intimal thickening (PIT), FCA and intraplaque haemorrage (PIH). Dashed line denotes intimal/adventitial border. Scale bar, 50 μm. (c) Immunohistochemical analysis of QKI-5, -6 and -7 expression in PIT, FCA and IPH (top), and quantification of QKI-positive cells mm² per tissue sample (n=5). Data expressed as mean±s.e.m.; one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Bonferroni's post-hoc test; *P<0.05, **P<0.01. (d) Quantitative RT–PCR (qRT–PCR) analysis of QKI mRNA expression in naive BM-derived CD115+ mouse monocytes and 7 days M-CSF stimulated macrophages of either wt-littermates (LM) or quaking viable (qk^v) mice (n=at least 3 mice per condition). Data expressed as mean±s.e.m.; one-way ANOVA, Bonferroni's post-hoc test; *P<0.05 and **P<0.01. (e) Western blot analysis of QKI-5, -6 and -7 expression levels in 7 days M-CSF stimulated macrophages derived from BM of wt and qk^v mice. Each lane represents an individual mouse lysate (biological n=3). (f) Immunohistochemical analysis for atherosclerotic plaque-resident macrophages (% MoMa-positive area) in aortic root sections of γ-irradiated (8 Gy) LDLR^−/− mice that subsequently were transplanted with BM from either qk^v mice (qk^v-BM) or littermates (LM)(LM-BM) and fed a high-fat diet for 8 weeks to develop atherosclerotic lesions (n=12 per group). Scale bar, 200 μm. Data expressed as mean±s.e.m.; Student's t-test, with *P<0.05.