Fig. 7.

Increased presence of SMC expressing macrophage markers in atherosclerotic lesions from Apoe^-/- but not Noxa1^SMC-/-/Apoe^-/- mice. A, Representative immunofluorescence images of aortic root sections stained for CD68 (red), SM-MHC (green) and with DAPI (blue). Scale is 100 µm. Higher magnification of insets (white rectangles) are in the lower panel. B, Quantification of CD68⁺ and SM-MHC⁺ dual marker plaque cells (mean±SEM, n = 6). C, Quantification of SM-MHC⁺ and CD68^- plaque cells (mean±SEM, n = 6). D, Representative immunofluorescence images of aortic root sections stained for Mac3 (green), SM-α-actin (red) and counterstained with DAPI (blue). Higher magnification of insets (white rectangles) are in the lower panel. E, Quantification of Mac3⁺ and SM-α-actin⁺ dual marker plaque cells (mean ± SEM, n = 6). F, Quantification of SM-MHC⁺ and Mac3^- plaque cells (mean±SEM, n = 6). G, Flow cytometry analysis of whole aorta single cell suspension for CD68⁺ and SM-α-actin⁺ dual-labeled cells. H, Flow cytometry quantification of CD68⁺ and SM-α-actin⁺ dual-labeled cell fraction of whole aorta (mean±SEM, n = 4). I, Flow cytometry quantification of CD68⁺ cell fraction of whole aorta (mean±SEM, n = 4).