Research Article

Simvastatin Attenuates Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Formation Favoured by Lack of Nrf2 Transcriptional Activity

Figure 6

AAA formation is associated with enhanced metalloproteinase activity. Mice of both genotypes represent the following groups: (1) sham (saline, ), (2) angiotensin II (AngII group, ), (3) simvastatin+saline (Sim group, ), and (4) simvastatin+angiotensin II (Sim+AngII group, ). Simvastatin was administered daily for 7 consecutive days before osmotic pump placement and during AngII infusion for another 14 days. (a) The activity of gelatinases (green) and MMP-9 level (red) at a magnification of 100x. Blue: nuclei. The activity of gelatinases was assessed by in situ zymography. Representative images. . L: lumen. (b) Relative expression of MMP2 and MMP3 within the abdominal aortic wall. eEF2 was used as a reference gene. Three-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test. Rectangle—mice, which developed the aneurysm. (c) Relative expression of TGFB1 within the abdominal aortic wall. eEF2 was used as a reference gene. Three-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test. Rectangle—mice, which developed the aneurysm. and vs. saline; # and ## vs. AngII; @ vs. WT.
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