Fig. 4.

Intestine-specific Cd36 deletion does not protect against LD-induced gallstone formation. Cd36-IKO mice and their littermate flox/flox controls were fed a LD for 4 weeks. A: Visible gallstones were observed in both genotypes (upper). Polarizing microscopy revealed aggregated ChMCs in both genotypes (lower; 200×). Gallstone incidence (B), gallstone score (C) and gallbladder volume (D) was determined as described in Materials and Methods. E: Hepatic lipids were extracted and quantitated enzymatically (Materials and Methods). Hepatic lipid content is expressed as μg/mg protein, except FFA, which is expressed as nmol/mg protein. The data in C–E represent the mean ± SE. n = 4–6 per group. BA, bile acid, CE, cholesteryl ester; FC, free cholesterol; PL, phospholipid; TC, total cholesterol.