Fig. 2.

NHE1-deficiency reduces atherogenesis. Aortic roots from Apoe^–/–Nhe1^+/– mice have smaller intima area (a, bars: 500 µm), reduced lesion Mac-3-positive macrophage accumulation (b, bars: 200 µm), smaller necrotic core area (c, bars: 200 µm), fewer CD4⁺ T cells (d, bars: 200 µm, inset bars: 50 µm), increased collagen deposition (e, bars: 500 µm, Sirius red staining), reduced elastin fragmentation (f, bars: 200 µm, Verhoeff Van Gieson staining), increased lesion SMC contents (g, bars: 200 µm), reduced lesion TUNEL-positive apoptotic cell contents (h, bars: 500 µm, inset bars: 200 µm), and reduced plasma TCTP levels i, compared with those from the Apoe^–/–Nhe1^+/+ control mice. j Plasma IgE levels between the groups. Representative figures for panels a–h are shown to the right. Data are mean ± SEM. n = 13 per group. Two-tailed Student’s t-test (a, c, e, f, g, h) and Mann–Whitney U-test (b, d, i, j) were used for statistic analyses. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001. Source data are provided as a Source Data file