Overexpression of Salusin-α Inhibits Vascular Intimal Hyperplasia in an Atherosclerotic Rabbit Model

Figures

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  Figure 1. Analysis of model establishment and plasmid transfection. Representative ultrasound images (a–d) are longitudinal and transverse sections of the arteries in the HFD and OD groups (the white arrows indicate the lumen of the arteries). Representative pathological images ((e) and (f)) show the average thickness of the arterial intima in the HFD and OD groups. Representative fluorescence and western blot images (g-j) of arteries transfected by plasmids. The white arrows (g) indicate the intima transfected by the two plasmids (pc-salusin-α and si-salusin-α) with the EGFP reporter gene in the transfection groups, and the image in (h) indicates the arterial wall transfected by no plasmids. The western blot image (i) shows the EGFP gene expression in three different groups, which were Salusin-alpha gene overexpression (pc-salusin-α), salusin-alpha gene interference (si-salusin-α), and no plasmids transfection (NO-plasmid) group. Similarly, the salusin-alpha gene expression in the three groups was displayed by (j). The data are representative of three independent experiments (n = 3).

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  Figure 2. Effects of the salusin-α gene on model intima media thickness. (A) Representative average arterial intima thickness images (a-g) in these seven groups. (B) The blue column indicates the mean arterial intima thickness in the seven groups, and the red column indicates the media. (C) The mean intima/media ratios were calculated as the mean arterial intima thickness divided by the media. The data are representative of three independent experiments (n = 3)(∗∗p < 0.01, ∗p < 0.05).

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  Figure 3. Effects of salusin-α on arterial diameter, blood flow velocity, and arterial tension. (a) The average arterial diameter was detected in the seven groups. (b) The mean blood flow velocity was detected in the seven groups. (c) The mean % of precontracted tension was calculated in the seven groups. The data are representative of three independent experiments (n = 3) (∗∗p < 0.01, ∗p < 0.05).

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  Figure 4. Effects of salusin-α overexpression on the levels of ABCA1, ABCG1, ACAT1, and CD36. (a) Representative western blotting results in the seven groups. (b) The columns indicated the mean western blot band densities in the seven groups. The data are representative of three independent experiments (n = 3). The distinct symbols indicate the comparison mean of different protein expression levels between different groups. ∗∗p < 0.01, ∗p < 0.05; ##p < 0.01, #p < 0.05; $$p < 0.01, $p < 0.05; %%p < 0.01, %p < 0.05; &&p < 0.01, and &p < 0.05.