Fig. 3

T1-weighted MRI of abdominal aortas ex vivo. a Representative images of vessel walls in normal diet fed, 1% CHOL, and 1% CHOL + injury rabbits. The thickened aortic vessel wall and increased wall area shown are characteristic of rabbits with 1% CHOL + injury after pharmacologic triggering. b Quantification of vessel wall area (mm²) as dot plots across rabbits and in multiple slices using ex vivo MRI. Each circle represents the average of eight slices for one rabbit with at least N = 3 in each category. The vertical lines represent the group mean value; P < 0.00005 was demonstrated by ANOVA, with similar results when comparing normal chow or 1% CHOL to the 1% CHOL + injury group by the Student’s t-test or Wilcoxon signed rank test. c Histological section from the 1% CHOL + injury aorta wall at 10× magnification from the ex vivo MRI image with Masson’s Trichrome staining (similar region as drawn in the red-box from (a). Scale bar size is 1 mm across images in (a) or 100 μm in (c)