Fig. 5.

TREM2 stimulates cholesterol uptake by regulating CD36. a Representative fluorescence images of Raw264.7 cells and mSMCs labeled with DiI-oxLDL at 37 °C for 4 h. Scale bar: 10 μm. b The mean DiI-oxLDL burden detected by flow cytometry (n = 9/group, student’s t-test). c and e Optical microscopy images (top) or confocal laser scanning microscopy images (bottom) of Raw264.7 cells and mSMCs labeled by ORO or DiI-oxLDL. CD36 small-interfering RNA (siRNA)-transfected Raw264.7 cells and mSMCs in the LV-GFP and LV-TREM2 groups before stimulation with oxLDL or DiI-oxLDL. Scale bars: 10 μm. Graphs (d, f) show the area positive for ORO per cell or mean DiI-oxLDL burden (mFI, n = 6 and 9/group, respectively; two-way ANOVA test followed by a post hoc Tukey’s test). All data are expressed as the mean ± SEM from 3 to 5 independent experiments. *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001. mFI mean fluorescence intensity