Murine models of atherosclerosis are useful tools to investigate pathogenic pathways on a molecular level, but require standardized quantification of lesion development. This protocol describes an optimized method to determine lesion size in the major arterial vessels including the aortic root, aortic arch, and brachiocephalic artery.
Total time
~3-4 hours per mouse (tissue harvest, preparation, imaging, and analysis)
Model organism
Mouse (atherosclerosis disease model)
Steps
1
Perform murine aorta microdissection
Isolate and carefully dissect the aorta from euthanized mice, removing surrounding connective tissue and preparing the vessel for downstream analysis.
▶ 00:56
2
Conduct en face aortic arch and brachiocephalic analysis
Flatten and mount aortic arch and brachiocephalic artery tissues for whole-mount imaging and lesion size quantification without sectioning.
▶ 01:57
3
Prepare aortic root cryosections
Embed aortic root tissue in cryomedium, section serially using a cryostat, and mount sections on slides for staining and lesion quantification.
▶ 04:20
4
Analyze representative atherosclerotic lesion data
Quantify and compare atherosclerotic lesion size and distribution across aortic root, aortic arch, and brachiocephalic artery using image analysis.
▶ 05:29