Fig. 2

Hyperuricemia aggravates AAA formation in mice. Hyperuricemia markedly enhanced the aortic aneurysm severity and increased the incidence of AAA formation. Hyperuricemic mice exhibited more advanced elastin degradation in the abdominal aorta than control mice. A Serum uric acid levels at baseline and at the endpoint of the experiment. B Representative photographs of macroscopic features of aneurysms in male ApoE-KO mice. Control, saline infusion; hyperuricemia, potassium oxonate injection, uric acid in the diet plus saline infusion; Ang II, Ang II (1000 ng/kg per minute) infusion for 4 weeks; hyperuricemia + Ang II, potassium oxonate injection, uric acid in the diet plus saline infusion and Ang II infusion. Scale bar = 10 mm. C Maximum external diameter of the abdominal aorta. D Incidence rate of AAA (percentage). E Representative VVG staining of the abdominal aorta. Scale bar = 100 μm. F Statistical analysis of elastin degradation. ApoE-KO: apolipoprotein E-knockout; Ang II: angiotensin II; VVG: Verhoeff-Van Gieson. The upper and lower whiskers show the maximal and minimal values, respectively, and the upper, middle and lower horizontal lines in the box represent the upper, middle and lower quartiles, respectively. *P < 0.05