Fig. 4.

Knockdown of CDKN2B-AS1 inhibits atherosclerosis in vivo. a, The formation of aortic plaques in C57BL/6 J and ApoE^−/− mice detected by oil red O staining. b, The formation of aortic plaques in C57BL/6 J and ApoE^−/− mice detected by HE staining of aortic arch (upper: × 100, lower: × 400). c, The expression of CDKN2B-AS1 in aortic plaques in C57BL/6 J and ApoE^−/− mice identified by FISH and Immunofluorescence (red fluorescence corresponds to CD68 and green fluorescence corresponds to CDKN2B-AS1) (CD68, α-SMA: red; CDKN2B-AS1: green) (× 400). d, The expression of CDKN2B-AS1 and CDKN2B in macrophages of ApoE^−/− mice; * p < 0.05 vs. the C57BL/6 J mice; ^#p < 0.05 vs. the sh-NC group; & p < 0.05 vs. the sh-CDKN2B group. e, Aortic plaque formation in ApoE^−/- atherosclerotic mice following different intervention factors, as detected by oil red O staining of the whole aorta. f, Aortic plaque formation in ApoE^−/- atherosclerotic mice following different intervention factors, as detected by HE staining of aortic arch (upper: × 100, lower: × 400). g, The serum cholesterol efflux in ApoE^−/- atherosclerotic mice following different intervention factors, as detected by a liquid scintillation counter. * p < 0.05 vs. the sh-NC group; ^#p < 0.05 vs. the sh-CDKN2B group. The experiment was repeated 3 times independently. The t-test was used to compare data between two groups and one-way ANOVA was used to compare data between multiple groups. sh-NC, mice injected with pSIH1-H1-copGFP-sh-NC; sh-CDKN2B, mice injected with pSIH1-H1-copGFP-sh-CDKN2B; sh-CDKN2B-AS1, mice injected with pSIH1-H1-copGFP-sh-CDKN2B-AS1; sh-CDKN2B-AS1 + sh-CDKN2B, mice injected with pSIH1-H1-copGFP-sh-CDKN2B-AS1 andpSIH1-H1-copGFP-sh-CDKN2B.