Figure 3. SMC-specific knockdown of PKCδ delays re-endothelialization.

(A) Representative images of rat carotid cross-sections harvested 2 days after intraluminal perfusion with indicated lentiviral vectors. Sections were co-immunostained for CD31 (green) and ZsGreen (red) or SMA (green) and ZsGreen (red). Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). The locations of the internal and external elastic lamina defining boundaries of the media are shown as white dashed lines. Scale bar = 50 μm. (B) Representative images of rat carotid cross-sections harvested 3 days after balloon-injury followed by intraluminal perfusion with indicated lentiviral vectors. Sections were immunostained for PKCδ (red). Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). The locations of the internal and external elastic lamina defining boundaries of the media are shown as white dashed lines. Scale bar = 50 μm. (C) Representative Evans blue dye-stained carotid arteries harvested 21 days after angioplasty from sham, injured and Lenti-enSM22αgc-non-targeting shRNA-treated, or injured and Lenti-enSM22αgc-shPKCδ-treated rats. Boundaries of the injured areas are indicated by dashed lines. Reendothelialization was quantitatively expressed by the percentage of Evans blue negative area over the total injured area using ImageJ software. Scale bar = 3 mm. Results are expressed as mean±SEM. n=3-4, *p<0.05, One-way ANOVA.