Figure 2.

Pre-incubation of wild-type (WT) CD34+ cells with an inhibitory anti-TF antibody prior to adoptive transfer. (A) Neointimal area (left axis, black bars) and intima:media ratio (right axis, white bars) of vessels taken from WT animals 28 days post-injury compared to those in mice after adoptive transfer of 1 × 10⁶ WT CD34+ cells that were either pre-incubated with isotype control or an anti-TF antibody immediately prior to injury. Data derived from examination of three random sections from five different vessels. *p < 0.01. (B,C) Cross sectional images of WT carotid artery 28 days post-injury stained with elastin van Gieson’s stain after adoptive transfer of cells pre-incubated with isotype control antibody (B) or anti-TF antibody (C) prior to injury. (D) Panels show immunohistology of consecutive sections through injured mouse carotid arteries harvested on day 5 post-injury. All sections stained with DAPI (4,6 diamidino-2-phenylindole) nuclear stain (blue) and anti-collagen-1 (red) and (green) angiopoietin-2. Yellow indicates co-localization. The annotated white line defines the junction between neointima and media. Table besides panel (D) describes summary of staining from all mice (n = 6), showing the proportion of the neointimal area that is positive for collagen-1, angiopoietin-2, or both on day 28 (% ± SEM). Data derived from three random sections from each of the arteries from each mouse (see Materials and Methods). Subtracting the proportional area occupied by dual positive cells from the total area occupied by angiopoietin-2+ cells gives the proportion of neointimal collagen-1-negative cells expressing angopoietin-2. *cf WT with isotype control p < 0.001 Experiments repeated at least twice.