Fig. 1.

The serum concentrations of cholesterol and atherosclerotic plaques in ApoE KO mice. a Serum cholesterol including total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-C, and LDL-C were determined in both ApoE KO mice with a western diet (M, model) and C57BL/6 J mice with a common diet (C, control) for 16 weeks (n = 6). ***P < 0.0001 vs control group. b Body weight of mice was measured at the beginning on a western diet (W0) and every 4 weeks (W4, W8, W12) till the whole experiment period (W16). The results are the average of eight measurements. P > 0.05 vs control group. c Atherosclerotic plaques in whole aorta both in ApoE KO mice and C57BL/6 J mice after a 16-week experiment. Whole aorta was stained with 0.5 % ORO for 5 min after washing with iced saline. Then the aorta was exposed to 60 % isopropanol for another 5 min and photographed by a digital camera after staining. d Atherosclerotic lesions in mice aorta sinus after a 16-week experiment. Cryosections of aortic sinus was stained with ORO. Representative photographs are shown. Magnification × 200