Fig. 1.
PPARδ activation protects against atherosclerosis. (A and B) Representative oil red O-stained sections of aortic valves from vehicle (A) or GW501516 (GW)-treated (B) apoE−/− mice. Ten-week-old male apoE−/− mice on an atherogenic diet were gavaged daily with either vehicle or GW, a high-affinity PPARδ agonist, at 2 mg·kg−1·day−1 for 8 weeks. (C and D) En face lesion area in representative vehicle (C) or GW-treated (D) aortas. (E and F) Quantitative analysis of the lesion size in aortic valves (E) and aortas (F) (n = 15). GW treatment significantly reduced lesion sizes. *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.005 Mann–Whitney U test. (G) LC-MS/MS quantitation of GW drug levels in pooled serum from vehicle (Inset Left) versus drug-treated mice. Standard curve for quantitation of GW levels (Inset Right).