Figure 4.
Diabetes caused a greater degree of atherosclerosis regardless of dietary cholesterol content (shown as percentage). After 12 weeks on diet, diabetic and nondiabetic LDLR–/–;GP mice were killed by cardiac perfusion and their tissues fixed. The aorta was dissected, and the area covered by atherosclerotic lesions was identified by Sudan IV staining and image analysis. Results are expressed as mean + SEM (A and C) or as scatter plots (B). In C, subgroups of cholesterol-fed nondiabetic and diabetic mice with similar plasma cholesterol levels were selected for comparison of lesion area. The number of mice per group is indicated above each bar in A and C. Statistical analysis was performed by using unpaired Student’s t test or one-way ANOVA followed by the Newman-Keuls multiple-comparison test (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, and ***P < 0.001 for comparison of groups within brackets). Symbols in B are defined in Figure 1.