Research Article

SP600125 Attenuates Nicotine-Related Aortic Aneurysm Formation by Inhibiting Matrix Metalloproteinase Production and CC Chemokine-Mediated Macrophage Migration

Figure 3

SP600125 suppresses the production of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in aortic tissue. (a) Representative images of immunohistochemical staining showing that MMP-2 and MMP-9 proteins are abundant in nicotine plus AngII-induced AAA tissues (a1, a2, a4, and a5), where they appear to be localized in the medial and outer smooth muscle cells. SP600125 downregulated the production of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in AAA lesions (a3 and a6). (b, c) Representative western blots for MMP-2 and MMP-9 revealing that SP600125 inhibits the expression of MMPs. The band optical density (OD) values (mean ± SD) of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were evaluated with ImageJ. GAPDH was used as an internal control and results are from independent triplicate experiments. refers to versus coadministration.
(a)
(b)
(c)