Figure 1.

Ang-1 enhances atherosclerotic plaque formation in ApoE^-/- mice fed a Western diet. ApoE^-/- mice fed a Western diet for 4 weeks were infected systemically with adenoviruses encoding Ang1 (AdAng-1) or a control virus (AdEV). The mice were euthanized 4 weeks after adenovirus treatment and effects on early to intermediate atherosclerotic lesions were investigated. (A) Representative sections stained with oil red O (top panel) and immunohistochemical staining of monocytes/macrophages and endothelium with the MOMA-2 monoclonal antibody (middle panel) and CD31 antibody (bottom panel) respectively in AdEV or AdAng1-treated ApoE^-/- mice. Original magnification, ×40 (Oil red), ×100 (MOMA-2). Bars, 100 µm. (B) Atherosclerotic lesion area was quantified by oil red O staining of lesions from serial aortic sections using ImageJ image analysis software. Nine serial sections at 40 µm intervals were used from each animal for analysis. Results show the mean from nine cross-sectional lesion size (mm²) for each animal and the line indicates median value per treatment of mice. *P < 0.01. (C) Similarly, five mice were randomly picked from each treatment group, and tissue sections from each animal were analysed for MOMA-2-positive lesion area. *P<0.05.