Detection of fVIII, macrophages, and SMCs in atherosclerotic lesions.

Sections of a human coronary atherectomy specimen containing normal media (A-C) and atheromatous regions (D-I) were double stained for fVIII (B,E,H, green fluorescence) and α-actin (A,D,red fluorescence) or CD68 (G, red fluorescence) as specific markers for SMCs and macrophages, respectively. Staining procedure is described in “Materials and methods. The single-stained images were obtained in an Eclipse E800 microscope at magnification × 1000 using selective fluorescent filter blocks. The merged images (C,F,I) were obtained by superimposing single-stained images using SPOT Advance Program Mode. Arrows in panels F and I point to fVIII staining (green fluorescence) on the periphery of selected SMCs and macrophages, respectively (red fluorescence). The staining patterns similar to those presented in this figure were found in all specimens analyzed.