Figure 4.

Histology From the Aortic Root

Histology at the level of the aortic sinuses at 30 weeks of age that include quantitative measurement of plaque area on Masson trichrome staining (A), plaque macrophage area by Mac-2 staining (B), plaque collagen area by Masson trichrome (C), and platelet number by CD41 staining (D) seen per aortic root section. Values are mean ± SEM. ∗p < 0.05 versus WT and LDL-R^−/−; ^†p < 0.05 versus LDL-R^−/− on WSD; ^‡p < 0.05 versus WT mice. All p values are post hoc (analysis of variance, p < 0.05) analysis with unpaired Student's t-tests. n = 6 for each animal group. (E) Examples illustrating group-related differences in histology from the aortic root showing plaque area by Masson trichrome (top row), fluorescent immunohistochemistry for Mac-2 (bottom row), and merged bright-field and Mac-2 (center row). Bars = 150 μm. DAPI = 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole; other abbreviations as in Figure 1.