Protein profile in vascular wall of atherosclerotic mice analyzed ex vivo using FT-IR spectroscopy

The structure of proteins in a tissue can undergo changes on account of disease state such as diabetes or atherosclerosis. In this work the protein profile in atherosclerotic tissue is monitored by FT-IR imaging coupled with Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA). Additionally, a model for prediction of secondary structure of proteins content based on amide I and II range is used to show the distribution of analyzed proteins. A new protein class emerged in atherosclerotic tissue in the region of the plaque and additionally the plaque was found to be strongly mixed with smooth muscle cell. The calculated secondary structure contents of proteins in atherosclerotic tissue in comparison to healthy tissue showed an increase of structures related to beta-sheet (E and T) and a decrease of helical (H) and unassigned arrangements.