Potential Contribution of Phenotypically Modulated Smooth Muscle Cells and Related Inflammation in the Development of Experimental Obstructive Pulmonary Vasculopathy in Rats
Fig 6
Quantitative analysis of the proportion of mature and immature smooth muscle cell-dominant lesion in the intimal lesions.
The lesions in which immature smooth muscle cell is the predominant phenotype of cells (> 50%) accounted for 87.5% (n = 21) in lesions with cellular intimal thickening and 14.0% (n = 4) in lesions with intimal fibrosis (chi-square test, p<.0001). Forty-nine intimal lesions, in which histological classification of the intima and immunophenotyping of smooth muscle cells were performed in serial sections, from 20 rats (n = 4 at 3 week, 4 at 5 week, 6 at 8 week, and 6 at 13 week) were evaluated.