Fig. 4: Effects of BM transplantation between WT and Ccl3^−/− mice on CaCl₂-induced AAA formation.

a Aortic diameters in BM chimeric mice after CaCl₂ treatment (n = 6 in each group). **P < 0.01, vs. pretreatment in each strain; ^##P < 0.01, ^#P < 0.05, vs. CaCl₂-treated WT mice transplanted WT-BM cells. b Histopathological analysis of the aortas obtained from BM chimeric mice after CaCl₂ treatment. Representative results from four independent experiments are shown. Scale bar, 100 µm. c Quantification of the number of elastin breaks per vessel (n = 5 in each mouse strain). **P < 0.01, vs. WT-BM in WT. d Macrophage accumulation into aortic tissues of BM chimeric mice after CaCl₂ treatment. Representative results from five independent experiments are shown. Scale bar, 50 µm. e Macrophage numbers were measured (n = 5 in each mouse strain). **P < 0.01, vs. WT mice transplanted WT-derived BM cells, by unpaired two-sided Student’s t test. f Intra-aortic Mmp9 expression in BM chimeric mice after CaCl₂ treatment (n = 6 in each mouse strain). **P < 0.01, vs. pretreatment in each strain. Unpaired two-sided Student’s t test was used in (a), (c), (e), and (f). Data are presented as mean values ± SEM.