Figure 11.

Administration of recombinant human IL-32α protein inhibits atherosclerosis in ApoE^-/- mice. (A-C) ApoE^-/- mice were pretreated twice with rhIL-32α (1 μg/mouse, administered by intraperitoneal injection) or PBS 1 and 2 days before partial ligation. Mice were then fed a high-fat diet and rhIL-32α treatments were administered every 2 days for 2 weeks. Aortic trees including the carotid arteries were dissected and examined by bright-field imaging, and the lesion area was quantified in C (data shown as mean ± SEM; n = 5, *p < 0.05 as determined by Student's t-test). Scale bar, 1 mm. (B) Frozen sections prepared from the lesion area of LCA, denoted by red arrows in A, were stained with oil red O and plaque size was quantified in D (data shown as mean ± SEM; n = 5, *p < 0.05 as determined by Student's t-test). Scale bar, 100 μm. (E-G) LCA frozen sections were used for immunostaining with antibodies against (E) MOMA2, (F) Timp3, and (G) Reck. Images shown are representative microscopy images (n = 5 each). The red rectangle indicates the magnified area shown in the lower panel. Nuclei (blue) and protein expression (brown) are shown. Scale bar, 100 μm.