Figure 1. The effect of PCSK9 on atherosclerosis development and on the levels of plasma cholesterol and triglyceride in LDb and LTp male mice at 5 months of age.

(A) The atherosclerotic lesions using en face quantification method on the aorta of LDb (n=10) and LTp (n=10) mice are expressed as % lesions, which were calculated as the ratio of aortic surface covered by plaques (in square millimeters) divided by the total surface of the whole aorta (in square millimeters). The results of % plaques of each aorta and mean±SD are shown. (B) The plaque area (in square microns) of each aortic sinus (LDb=5 and LTp=6) were quantified using AxioVision release 4.8 software (Zeiss). Each data point represents an average of 6 sections of aortic sinus for 1 animal. The plaque size (µm²) of each animal and mean±SD are shown. We used 2-tailed unpaired t-test with Welch's correction to analyze the difference between LDb versus LTp mice. The p values are shown. (C) The concentrations (mg/dl) of plasma cholesterol and triglyceride in C57BL/6J (n=7), LDb(n=7), and LTp (n=7) are presented.The mean±SD of each group is shown. Statistical analysis were performed using 2-tailed unpaired t-tests with Welch's correction. The p values are listed. One-way ANOVA was also used to analyze the results.