Fig. 4.

Enhanced macrophage antioxidant effects and inhibited vascular lipid peroxidation in a T lymphocyte-specific PKM2 knockout mouse model with AAA.

The infrarenal abdominal aortas of 10-week-old PKM2^fl/fl and LckCrePKM2^fl/fl mice were treated with elastase for 2 weeks to induce AAA. (A) Representative immunohistochemistry staining for 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) in the infrarenal abdominal aortas of the elastase-treated PKM2^fl/fl and LckCrePKM2^fl/fl mice. Scale bar, 2 mm. (B) Gene expression levels of Gpx4, Slc7a11, Ptgs2, SOD1 and Cat were measured via qPCR (relative to GAPDH) in peritoneal macrophages of the PKM2^fl/fl and LckCrePKM2^fl/fl mice with AAA. (C) Representative immunofluorescence staining of Gpx4 (red) and macrophages (F4/80⁺, green) in the infrarenal abdominal aortas. DAPI indicated cell nucleus. Scale bar, 25 μm and 100 μm. (D) Representative immunofluorescence staining of Slc7a11 (red) and macrophages (F4/80⁺, green) in the infrarenal abdominal aortas. DAPI indicates the cell nucleus. Scale bar, 25 μm and 100 μm. Every microscopy figure is presented as a total view of the field above and a cutout of that field with a high magnification below. A: tunica adventitia; M: tunica medium; L: tunica lumen. n = 3. The data are presented as the mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05, compared with PKM2^fl/fl. The data were compared using Student's t-test. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)