Abstract
The thickening of the intima is a critical underlying component of atherosclerosis. Consequently, robust and reproducible animal models of intimal thickening are essential for a greater understanding of the mechanisms underlying the process of intimal thickening and to evaluate new approaches for the reduction of intimal thickening and thereby atherosclerosis. The ligation of the carotid artery in the mouse causes the thickening of the intimal layer of the artery. This model is relatively simple and is reproducible and therefore is a preferred and well-established model of intimal thickening. Here, we detail a protocol for carotid artery ligation in the mouse and methods for histological examination and quantification of intimal thickening.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Schwartz SM, deBlois D, O'Brien ERM (1995) The intima. Soil for atherosclerosis and restenosis. Circ Res 77(3):445–465
Tsaousi A, Williams H, Lyon C, Taylor V, Swain A, Johnson J, George S (2011) Wnt4/β-catenin signalling induces VSMC proliferation and is associated with intimal thickening. Circ Res 108:427–436
Johnson JL, Dwivedi A, Somerville M, George SJ, Newby AC (2011) Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-3 activates MMP-9 mediated vascular smooth muscle cell migration and neointima formation in mice. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 31(9):e35–e44. https://doi.org/10.1161/atvbaha.111.225623
Williams H, Mill CA, Monk BA, Hulin-Curtis S, Johnson JL, George SJ (2016) Wnt2 and WISP-1/CCN4 induce intimal thickening via promotion of smooth muscle cell migration. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 36(7):1417–1424. https://doi.org/10.1161/atvbaha.116.307626
Hulin-Curtis S, Williams H, Wadey KS, Sala-Newby GB, George SJ (2017) Targeting Wnt/β-catenin activated cells with dominant-negative N-cadherin to reduce neointima formation. Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev 5:191–199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omtm.2017.04.009
Brown BA, Williams H, Bond AR, Angelini GD, Johnson JL, George SJ (2018) Carotid artery ligation induced intimal thickening and proliferation is unaffected by ageing. J Cell Commun Signal 12(3):529–537. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12079-017-0431-5
Chang Z, Huangfu C, Grainger AT, Zhang J, Guo Q, Shi W (2017) Accelerated atherogenesis in completely ligated common carotid artery of apolipoprotein E-deficient mice. Oncotarget 8(66):110289–110299
Edwards MS, Fuselier PA (1983) Enhanced susceptibility of mice with streptozotocin-induced diabetes to type II group B streptococcal infection. Infect Immun 39(2):580–585. https://doi.org/10.1128/iai.39.2.580-585.1983
Johnson JL, Baker AH, Oka K, Chan L, Newby AC, Jackson CL, George SJ (2006) Suppression of atherosclerotic plaque progression and instability by tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2: involvement of macrophage migration and apoptosis. Circulation 113:2435–2444
Acknowledgments
Helen Williams is funded by British Heart Foundation project grant, PG/17/66/33216.
Bethan Brown was funded by British Heart Foundation PhD studentship, FS/13/68/30489.
Jason Johnson is funded by British Heart Foundation Senior Research Fellowship, FS/18/1/33234.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Williams, H., Brown, B.A., Johnson, J.L., George, S.J. (2022). Use of Mouse Carotid Artery Ligation Model of Intimal Thickening to Probe Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Remodeling and Function in Atherosclerosis. In: Ramji, D. (eds) Atherosclerosis. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2419. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1924-7_33
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1924-7_33
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-1923-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-1924-7
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols