Concomitant expression of Zf9 and uPA in arterial endothelial cells after carotid balloon injury in rats.

The distal half of the left carotid artery of rats was injured with a balloon catheter. At 3 hours and 2 days after injury, the carotid artery was perfusion fixed with 3% paraformaldehyde, excised, fixed again with 3% paraformaldehyde, and paraffin embedded. Serial sections were stained with anti-Zf9 antibody (panels A and D), anti-uPA antibody (panels B and E) or nonimmune antibody (panels C and F) as described in the Materials and Methods. Panels A through F show the typical staining pattern of the adjacent proximal half of carotid artery at 3 hours (panels A-C) and 2 days (panels D-F) after injury. Down arrows indicate the endothelial cells. Up arrows indicate the smooth muscle cells. Scale bar, 50 μm.