Figure 3
Adenoviral COMP-Ang1 gene or COMP-Ang1 protein transfer increases cavernous endothelial content.
(a) Anti-PECAM-1 staining of cavernous tissue from age-matched control (C) or hypercholesterolemic mice 2 and 8 weeks after intracavernous injection of ad-LacZ (L, 2 × 108 parts/20 μl), BSA (B, 5.88 μg/20 μl), ad-COMP-Ang1 (CA, 2 × 108 parts/20 μl), COMP-Ang1 protein (CP, 5.88 μg/20 μl), or cholesterol diet only (CH). Scale bar = 200 μm. (b, c) Quantitative analysis of endothelial cell content in cavernous tissue was performed using an image analyzer. Each bar depicts the mean ± SEM for n = 8 animals per group. One-way ANOVA was used for statistical analysis. (b) Two weeks after treatment. *p <0.01 vs C, CA and CP groups, #p <0.01 vs CH, L and B groups. (c) Eight weeks after treatment. *p <0.01 vs C group. (d) COMP-Ang1 protein increases expression of claudin-5 and occludin in MCECs. Representative Western blot for occludin and claudin-5. The cells were incubated with COMP-Ang1 protein (400 ng/ml/d) for three consecutive days and cells were harvested 24 hours after treatment. Results were similar from four independent experiments. (e) Immunohistochemical staining of cavernous tissue using antibodies to claudin-5 (green) and occludin (green) in each group. Scale bar = 200 μm. (f) Immunohistochemical staining of cavernous tissue using antibodies to oxidized-LDL (green) and PECAM-1 (CD31; red) in each group. Scale bar = 200 μm (upper column) or 50 μm (lower column).
