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. 2016 Jun 16;5(6):e002860. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.115.002860

Figure 10.

Figure 10

Neutrophil (myeloperoxidase+) distribution during aortic atherosclerosis. A, Minimal presence of intimal neutrophils during the atherosclerotic process. There are significantly more medial located neutrophils in TCFA and PR (*P<0.0002; † P<0.033; compared to LFA and TCFA, respectively) and healing ruptures (‡ P<0.007; compared to PR) and significantly less in FCP (§ P<0.0002; compared to HR). B, Overall, the mean amount of neutrophils within the media significantly increase in vulnerable lesions (*P<0.0005; compared to progressive lesions). Spearman's rho correlation coefficient is not significant in the intima and adventitia. C, Illustrative image (×50) of a normal aorta stained for myeloperoxidase (MPO) with high‐resolution images of the intima (×200) and the adventitia (×400). Identified neutrophils are all intravascular located in the vaso vasorum (black arrows). D, Representative image of a TCFA stained for MPO with a high‐resolution image of the intima, media, and adventitia. This example of a TCFA is again a consecutive section of the Movat and CD68 provided in Figures 3B and 8D. Neutrophils in the media and adventitia are located within the infiltrating vaso vasorum (black arrows). Total number of cases in (A and B): 108—normal 11, nonprogressive lesions 22 (viz AIT [11] and IX [11]), progressive lesions 35 (viz PIT [11], EFA [13] and LFA [11]), vulnerable lesions 24 (viz TCFA [13] and PR [11]), and stabilized lesions 16 (viz HR [7] and FCP [9]). The vertical axis of the intima, media, and adventitia in (A and B) is presented as a log scale. Each solid bar in (A) represents the number of neutrophils within the intima, media, and adventitia of one aortic plaque. Large solid bars in (B) represent the mean total number of neutrophils within the aortic wall section per atherosclerotic phase±SEM. For abbreviations and a detailed description concerning the classification, see the Material and Methods section. All sections were developed with diaminobenzidine (DAB) and counterstained with Mayer's hematoxylin. AIT indicates adaptive intimal thickening; EFA, early fibroatheroma; FCP, fibrotic calcified plaque; HR, healed rupture; IX, intimal xanthoma; LFA, late fibroatheroma; N, normal; PIT, pathological intimal thickening; PR, plaque rupture; TCFA, thin cap fibroatheroma.