Also, areas of significant damage in both mdx and mdx-ApoE mice were shown to exhibit normal, if not increased vascular density, as visualized by H&E and CD31 (PECAM-1) stained serial sections in the triceps brachii muscle, indicating that the muscle damage observed is not the result of infarct-induced ischemia (Additional file 8: Figure S7A–B). Here, APOE is linked to ischemia.