Fig. 2
Poldip2 knockdown reduces neointima formation after vascular injury. Intraluminal injury was induced by insertion of a guide wire into the right femoral artery in mice. Both injured and uninjured vessels were harvested at various time points after surgery for histological studies. A Representative H&E images of cross-sections from Poldip2+/+ and Poldip2+/− femoral arteries harvested 2 or 3 weeks after surgery. Tracing in ImageJ software was used to measure intimal and medial areas. The endothelium and internal elastic lamina were marked with blue dashed lines, while the internal and external elastic laminae were marked with pink dotted lines in selected images. The scale bars are 20 µm. B Intimal and medial areas were measured in duplicate cross-sections from each vessel. Bars represent average ± SEM of intimal/medial area ratios from 3–15 animals. Neointimal area was reduced in Poldip2+/− mice vs. wild-type at week 2: *P < 0.03, and remained almost statistically significant by week 3: #P < 0.06. C Femoral arteries were harvested 2 h after injury from wild-type (a) and Poldip2+/− mice (b). Apoptotic TUNEL-positive cells were stained in red and nuclei were counterstained with DAPI. Negative controls (c) were produced in sections from uninjured arteries. D Quantification of images similar to those in (c). Apoptotic TUNEL-positive cells were counted in duplicate femoral artery sections and expressed as percent of total cell number assessed by DAPI staining. Values are expressed as mean ± SEM. H&E and TUNEL images are representative of sections from at least 3 animals in each genotype
