Figure 2.

Leoligin promotes THP-1 macrophage cholesterol efflux mediated by apo A1 (A) as well as by human plasma (B). The assay was performed using 24-well plates. Leoligin (LEO, 10 μM)-treated macrophages labeled with [³H]-cholesterol were incubated for 24 h and then divided into two groups. One group was treated with serum-free medium, whereas the other one was treated with serum-free medium supplemented with 10 μg/mL apo A1 (A) or 1% human plasma (B) for 6 h, respectively. Pioglitazone (PIO, 10 μM) was used as positive control. The intracellular and extracellular radioactivity was measured with scintillation counting. The data are shown as mean ± SD of three independent experiments. One-way ANOVA (Bonferroni) statistical significance evaluation: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001 versus the solvent control (DMSO); n.s. no significance versus DMSO. Compared with the mean of DMSO (A), the 95% CI of difference is −1.445 to −0.4443 (10 μM, PIO), −0.7278 to 0.2729 (1 μM, LEO), −1.182 to −0.1812 (3 μM, LEO), −2.628 to −1.628 (10 μM, LEO), and −2.887 to −1.886 (20 μM, LEO), respectively. For (B), the 95% CI of difference is −0.4593 to −0.08031 (10 μM, LEO) and −0.4838 to −0.1047 (10 μM, PIO).