D. desulfuricans increased atherosclerotic lesions of high-fat-diet Apoe−/− mice. Eight-week-old Apoe−/−mice were fed either a normal chow diet (NCD) or high-fat-diet (HFD) for 10 weeks. The high-fat-diet fed mice were further separated into 3 groups: a group gavaged with PBS as vehicle control (HFD + PBS); a group receiving daily oral gavage with live D. desulfuricans (HFD + Des); a group receiving daily oral gavage with heat-killed D. desulfuricans (HFD + hk-Des). (A) The schematic illustration of mice with various treatments and sampling processes. (B) Representative photomicrographs of Oil Red O (ORO) staining and quantitative analysis of atherosclerotic plaque areas in the aortas. (C) Representative photomicrographs of ORO staining and quantitative analysis of atherosclerotic plaque areas in the aortic root. (D) The lesion areas in the aorta, aortic arch, thoracic aorta, abdominal aorta, and (E) aortic root sections were analyzed by Image J software. Data are presented as mean ± SD (n = 8 per group). Significances among the 4 groups were determined by one-way ANOVA, followed by post hoc pairwise comparisons with the Tukey honest significant difference. P < 0.001 (∗∗∗).