Fig. 6: The Nrg4 overexpression of BAT in situ decreased the leukocytes homing within aortic plaques in DKO mice.
Nrg4 overexpression of BAT in situ by AAV-Nrg4 was performed in DKO mice aged 6 weeks and leukocyte homing was analyzed in DKO-AAV (Zsgreen) or DKO-AAV (Nrg4) mice that were fed a WD for 12 weeks. a, The mRNA expression of the macrophage markers F4/80 and CD68 in aortas (n = 6). b, The mRNA expression of the chemokines in aortas (n = 6). c,d, The homing of GFP leukocytes to atherosclerotic plaques 48 h after intravenous injection into DKO-AAV (Zsgreen) and DKO-AAV (Nrg4) mice that were fed a WD for 12 weeks. c, Fluorescence micrograph of aortic root plaques. The dashed line indicates the plaque border. Inset, magnification of GFP leukocytes. DAPI (left); GFP (middle); merge (right). Scale bars, 200 μm. d, Quantification of GFP leukocytes per square millimeter of plaque (n = 6). e, The representative images of aortic arch sections stained with CD31 (red, as an endothelial marker), VCAM-1 or ICAM-1 (green) and DAPI (blue) (n = 6). Arrowheads indicate CD31/VCAM-1 or CD31/ICAM-1 colocalization. Scale bars, 150 μm. f, The mRNA expressions from MAECs of the aorta for VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 (n = 6). Statistical significance was calculated using two-sided Student’s t-tests. Data are shown as mean ± s.e.m. *P < 0.001.
