Fig. 2: SMCs-specific knockout of R-Ras2 accelerated AAA.
a Representative photograph of aortas isolated from Rras2f/f or Rras2SMKO mice infused with Ang II (1000 ng/kg/min) for 4 weeks. b Incidence of AAA, two-sided Fisher’s exact test. c Quantification of the suprarenal vascular outer maximal width, n = 20 mice for each group, two-sided Mann–Whitney test. d The ratio of the aorta weight to body weight. Rras2f/f + Ang II (n = 20) and Rras2SMKO + Ang II (n = 17). Two-sided Mann–Whitney test. e Ultrasound images and quantification of the maximal lumen abdominal aorta diameters of Rras2f/f + Ang II (n = 20) and Rras2SMKO + Ang II (n = 17) mice. Two-way RM ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s multiple comparisons test. f H&E, Masson, and EVG staining of supra-renal abdominal aorta sections, and quantifications of collagen content and elastic fiber breaks. n = 6 mice for each group. Masson, two-sided Unpaired t-test with Welch’s correction. EVG, two-sided Mann–Whitney test. g Western blot of SM22, Calponin 1 and α-SMA. n = 6 mice for each group, two-sided Unpaired t-test. h Co-immunofluorescent staining of α-SMA (Green) and R-Ras2 (Red), IgG was used as the isotype control. Blue: DAPI. Scale bar: 40 μm. 3 independent experiments showed consistent results. i Western blot of Bax, Cleaved-PARP1 (C-PARP1), and Bcl-2 in aortic tissue of different treated mice, n = 6 mice for each group, two-sided Unpaired t-test. j TUNEL staining for apoptotic cells (Green). Red: α-SMA, Blue: DAPI. 3 independent experiments showed consistent results. Scale bar: 40 μm. Collagen deposition in (f), and data in (c, e, g, and i) were represented as mean ± SEM. Data in (d) and EVG in (f) were represented as the box plots indicating median (middle line), 25th, 75th percentile (box), as well as minimum and maximum values (whiskers). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
