Migratory and Dancing Macrophage Subsets in Atherosclerotic Lesions

Macrophage heterogeneity within atherosclerotic plaques was explored with intravital imaging, flow cytometry, and RNA sequencing. 4 populations of cells were found with varying expression profiles and functions relevant to atherosclerosis and inflammation. Overall design: Cells were sorted from the aortas and carotid arteries of atherosclerotic Apoe-/- Cx3cr1GFP Cd11cYFP mice fed Western Diet based on GFP and YFP expression. The expression profiles of the 4 subsets (GFP+, GFP+YFP+, YFP+, GFP-YFP-) were found using an Illumina HiSeq4000.