This Article Abstract Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Wallner, K. Articles by Sharifi, B. G. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Wallner, K. Articles by Sharifi, B. G.

Arterialization of human vein grafts is associated with tenascin-C expression

Kurt Wallner, MD^*, Chen Li, MD, PhD^*, Michael C. Fishbein, MD, Prediman K. Shah, MD, FACC^* and Behrooz G. Sharifi, PhD^*

^* Division of Anatomic Pathology, and Burns and Allen Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA
Department of Pathology, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA

View larger version (81K): [in a new window]   Figure 1 Comparison of TN-C expression in the control saphenous vein, patent and occluded vein graft. (A) TN-C was strongly expressed around the muscle bundles in the adventitia (a) and media (m) of the patent vein graft (red), but not in the neointima (n). Inset shows higher magnification of the adventitia and media. (B) TN-C either was not detected or was weakly expressed in occluded graft segments. (C) Lack of detectable expression of TN-C in control veins. Magnifications: A and B, 10x C, 30x, reduced by 65%.

View larger version (74K): [in a new window]   Figure 2 Representative photomicrograph of in situ hybridization with digoxigenin-labeled TN-C cRNA probe. Immunostaining of the serial section with anti-TN-C antibodies and antisense probe shows that the distribution of TN-C protein (A) correlates with the mRNA (B). Tenascin-C protein (red) and mRNA (dark blue) was detected predominantly in the adventitia (a) and media (m). The neointima (n) was uniformly negative. Magnification: 30x, reduced by 59%.

View larger version (111K): [in a new window]   Figure 3 Cell proliferation and TN-C expression in the patent vein graft. The pattern of cell proliferation was compared with the expression of TN-C. (A) PCNA labeling of vein graft (brown reaction product indicated with arrowhead) shows numerous PCNA-positive cells in the adventitia (a) and neointima (n). (B) TN-C expression (red) was concentrated in the adventitia (a) and media (m) but not found in the neointima (n). Magnification: 30x, reduced by 65%.

View larger version (126K): [in a new window]   Figure 4 Cell-specific staining of the occluded vein graft. Staining of serial sections, with antibodies specific to myosin heavy chain (A), h-caldesmon (B), -actin (C) and desmin (D), shows that the occluded veins were highly cellular. All are shown as red reaction product. Magnifications: A, B, C, 10x; D, 15x, reduced by 65%.

View larger version (94K): [in a new window]   Figure 5 Cell-specific staining of the patent vein graft. Anti-myosin (A), anti-caldesmon (B), anti-desmin (C) and anti-SM--actin (D) strongly stained SMCs found in the adventitia (a), media (m) and neointimal (n) cells. All are shown as red reaction product. Magnification: 20x, reduced by 65%.