Figure 3

Lipid accumulation in arterial blood vessels. Oil red O was used to detect the presence of lipids in tissue sections of the heart and aorta. (A) & (B) Presence of higher lipid deposition in the root of the aorta in the smoke-exposed mice. (C) & (D) Similar to A&B but in the proximal part of ascending aorta. (E) & (F) Small blood vessels in the heart muscle of SSW- exposed mice show much more lipid accumulation than in control mice. Thin black lines outline the outside of the vessel walls. (G) The lesion area in both control and SSW-exposed mice was measured as described in the Materials and Methods. The results are expressed as percentage of total area of aorta wall in cross section. Data are mean ± SEM for each group. Statistical analyses were done according to unpaired t test. *P < 0.05 vs. control. The mice were exposed to SSW for 1 year. The images are representative of 2 mice per group.