Abstract
Apoptosis is a key process occurring in atherosclerosis, both in humans and in animal models. Apoptosis occurs in all cell types studied thus far, and thus lineage marking is often necessary. Apoptosis should be ascertained using a combination of morphological features and activation of specific pathways (e.g., terminal UTP nick end labeling—TUNEL). Both TUNEL and cryptic epitope antibodies (e.g., cleaved caspase 3) can be used, although they will often give different frequencies. Apoptotic frequency but not rate can be estimated from these methods, as we do not know the timing of apoptosis or how much of the process is marked by each method. We describe the morphological and immunohistochemical methods used in our laboratory to detect apoptotic cells in animal and human atherosclerotic plaques.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Clarke MC, Figg NK, Maguire JJ et al (2006) Apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells induces features of plaque vulnerability in atherosclerosis. Nat Med 12:1075–1080
Bennett M, Boyle J (1998) Apoptosis in cardiovascular disease. Heart 79:313–318
Gorenne I, Kumar S, Gray K et al (2013) Vascular smooth muscle cell Sirtuin 1 protects against DNA damage and inhibits atherosclerosis. Circulation 127:386–396
Mercer J, Figg N, Stoneman V et al (2005) Endogenous p53 protects vascular smooth muscle cells from apoptosis and reduces atherosclerosis in ApoE knockout mice. Circ Res 96:667–674
Schrijvers DM, De Meyer GR, Kockx MM et al (2005) Phagocytosis of apoptotic cells by macrophages is impaired in atherosclerosis. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 25:1256–1261
Clarke M, Talib S, Figg N et al (2010) Vascular smooth muscle cell apoptosis induces IL-1-directed inflammation; effects of hyperlipidemia-mediated inhibition of phagocytosis. Circ Res 106:363–372
Cho A, Courtman D, Langille L (1995) Apoptosis (programmed cell death) in arteries of the neonatal lamb. Circ Res 76:168–175
Han D, Haudenschild C, Hong M et al (1995) Evidence for apoptosis in human atherosclerosis and in a rat vascular injury model. Am J Pathol 147:267–277
Isner J, Kearney M, Bortman S et al (1995) Apoptosis in human atherosclerosis and restenosis. Circulation 91:2703–2711
Lutgens E, de Muinck ED, Kitslaar PJ et al (1999) Biphasic pattern of cell turnover characterizes the progression from fatty streaks to ruptured human atherosclerotic plaques. Cardiovasc Res 41:473–479
Clarke MC, Littlewood TD, Figg NL et al (2008) Chronic apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells accelerates atherosclerosis and promotes calcification and medial degeneration. Circ Res 102:1529–1538
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by British Heart Foundation Grant RG/08/009/25841 and the Cambridge NIHR Biomedical Research Centre.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Figg, N.L., Bennett, M.R. (2015). Quantification of Apoptosis in Mouse Atherosclerotic Lesions. In: Andrés, V., Dorado, B. (eds) Methods in Mouse Atherosclerosis. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1339. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2929-0_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2929-0_13
Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-2928-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-2929-0
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols