Figure 5

Mammary gland vascularization is reduced in Cox-2 knockout mice. (a) Mammary gland tissue sections from age-matched virgin mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV)/neu deletion mutant (NDL) females that were Cox-2 wild type (subpanels a to f) and Cox-2 null (subpanels g to l) were subjected to anti-CD31 immunohistochemistry, and counterstained with methyl green. Both the number and size of blood vessels were strikingly reduced in Cox-2 null samples. (b) Expression levels of angiogenesis-related genes were compared by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in MMTV/NDL mammary glands from Cox-2 wild-type (blue columns) and Cox-2 null females (yellow columns). The height of the columns indicate means normalized to the mean expression level of that gene in MMTV/NDL, Cox-2 wild-type samples; the bars indicate the standard error. Expression of VEGF, Ang1, and Flt1 was significantly reduced (P = 0.016, 0.049 and 0.010, respectively). The average of log values across all six genes for each mouse, representing a global effect, was significantly higher in wild-type tissues than in null tissues at P = 0.025. Reproduced with permission from [40].