Fig. 3. β-catenin interacts with eNOS under flow.

a HUVEC were exposed to orbital flow for 72 h, fixed and subject to PLA using antibodies targeting eNOS and b-catenin. In control samples, PLA was carried out in the absence of b-catenin (I) or eNOS antibody (II). VE-cadherin and DAPI were used to stain cell junctions and nuclei, respectively. Representative images are shown and the average PLA signal quantified in HUVEC under disturbed flow (DF) or undisturbed flow (UF; n = 4); analysis by paired Student’s t test, **p ≤ 0.01. b EC from protected (outer curvature) or atherosusceptible (inner curvature) regions of the mouse aorta were stained with eNOS (red) and β-catenin (green) antibodies and imaged en face by confocal microscopy. Merged representative images with DAPI (blue) are shown (n = 3). Scale bars show 50 mm.