Fig. 5. CAR elevates circulating 7-DHC levels in human serum.
a 7-DHC is significantly elevated in seven human serum samples with detectable levels of CAR and its active metabolites when compared with control samples. Control samples originate from 50 age and sex-matched individuals with no prescription of CAR and no detectable levels of the active metabolites. Bars correspond to the mean ± SEM; statistical significance: ****p < 0.0001. b Correlation of 7-DHC and the drug levels detected in each human serum sample. Drug levels correspond to the sum of CAR and its active metabolites (DCAR, DDCAR, and 2,3-DCPP). 7-DHC is significantly correlated with drug concentrations (r2 = 0.7519; p = 0.0115). Blue and purple symbols denote male and female individuals, respectively. Information about age and sex of the donors can be found in Supplementary Table 1.