Figure 4.

Effects of ESL on lipid deposition and expression of atherogenic markers in the aortas of LDLR^−/− mice fed a HCD for 12 weeks: (A) representative photographs of an oil red O-stained whole aorta (en face) from each group are shown; (B) the protein levels of KLF2, IL-6, and IL-1β were measured by Western blot analysis; and (C) the mRNA expression of the indicated targets was determined by real-time qRT-PCR. ^# p < 0.01 vs. the chow diet group. * p < 0.05 and ** p < 0.01 vs. the HCD group. Chow diet, chow-fed group; HCD, high-cholesterol diet-fed group; HCD + ESL, 1% (wt/wt diet) ESL supplemented HCD-fed group.