Fig. 7

Phospho-Smad2 is pronouncedly stained in the EC layer of human coronary atherosclerotic lesions. Serial cross-sections of diseased human coronary arteries and control internal thoracic arteries from same patients were stained for human phospho-Smad2 (a), laminin (b), and fibronectin (c) and counterstained with vWF and DAPI. Arrow, phospho-Smad2-positive cells or the EC layer; IEL: internal elastic lamina; L: lumen; N: neointima; M: media; A: adventitia. Pictures in 400X are the magnified views of the indicated areas (white line box) in the 100X pictures. (d) Quantitative analysis of the results in a showing the percentage of numbers of phospho-Smad2-positive cells relative to DAPI-stained cells. Data are means ± SEM of ~150 cells for EC layer and ~200 cells for each other regions from three to five independent experiments. (e and f) Quantitative analysis of the results in b and c, respectively. Images shown in each examination are representative of five experiments with similar results. Data are means ± SEM from five independent experiments. ^*P < 0.05 vs. control vessels