Reducing TRPC1 Expression through Liposome-Mediated siRNA Delivery Markedly Attenuates Hypoxia-Induced Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in a Murine Model

Figure 2

Histopathological and immunohistochemical (IHC) changes in lung parenchyma by day 28 after hypoxia-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) (). ((A) to (C)) Hematoxylin and eosin (H & E) staining (100x) showing (A) normal pulmonary arterioles in sham controls, (B) hypertrophic muscularized medial layer of pulmonary arterioles (PA) in hypoxia-treated mice (i.e., dotted-squares magnified as solid-line squares), and (C) PA in hypoxia-treated animals with siRNA treatment. The scale bars in right lower corners represent 100 μm. (D) Number of alveolar sacs among the three groups. versus other groups with different symbols (, †, ‡), . (E) Crowded score of pulmonary tissue among the three groups. versus other groups with different symbols (, †, ‡), . (F) Number of muscularized vessels per high-power field (HPF). versus other groups with different symbols (, †, ‡), . ((G) to (I)) IHC staining (i.e., α-SMA staining) (100x) illustrating the number of small pulmonary vessels (yellow arrows) among the three groups. (J) versus other groups with different symbols (, †, ‡), . The scale bars in right lower corners represent 100 μm. HPF = high-power field. Statistical analysis in (D), (E), (F), and (J) using one-way ANOVA, followed by Bonferroni multiple comparison post hoc test. Symbols (, †, ‡) indicate significance (at 0.05 level).