Research Paper Volume 12, Issue 13 pp 12684—12702

Figure 2. miR-145 suppresses the occurrence and progression of AAA in ApoE^-/- mice. (A) interference efficiency of miR-145 verified by RT-qPCR; (B) representative morphology images of abdominal aorta specimens in mice; (C) incidence of AAA in mice; (D) the maximum diameter of abdominal aorta in mice; (E) α-SM-actin expression in SMCs in abdominal aorta determined using immunohistochemistry (× 400); (F) CD68 expression in abdominal aorta detected using immunofluorescence staining (× 400); (G) levels of COX-2, NO, IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α in serum of mice measured using ELISA; (H) SOD level in serum and MDA level in abdominal aorta of mice; (I) protein levels of cleaved caspase-3, NOX4, iNOS, p47phox, collagen I and collagen III determined using Western blot analysis; * p < 0.05, vs. normal mice; # p < 0.05, vs. AAA mice injected with LV-miR-NC or LV-NC-inhibitor plasmids; measurement data were depicted as the mean ± standard deviation; comparisons among multiple groups were analyzed using one-way ANOVA followed by Turkey’s post hoc test; n = 10.