Induction of VSMC death.

?Cell death of VSMC was measured at 18 h after treatments as outlined. Monocyte supernatants or MVs were all generated by 15 min. incubations with LPS (1 ��g/ml). Vascular smooth muscle cell death was inversely related to the crystal violet staining of resident cells as measured at A570. Top Panel, VSMC death by conditioned medium from LPS stimulated monocytes (*LPS vs control); Second Panel, Inhibition of VSMC death by MV isolated from LPS treated monocytes that had been pretreated with the caspase-1 inhibitor, YVAD (*Treatments vs control, #YVAD vs LPS); Third Panel, VSMCs were pretreated with different inhibitors for 30 mins before being subjected to MV (*Inhibitors vs control); Bottom Panel, Effect of homogenization or heat-inactivation of MV before addition to VSMC (* Different MVs vs control, @homogenized vs intact, $heat inactivated vs intact).