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. 2020 Nov 19;7:567837. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2020.567837

Figure 4.

Figure 4

WNT Proteins Regulate Lipid Accumulation in THP-1 Macrophages and VSMCs. (A) LipidTOX™ staining was used to evaluate the accumulation of neutral lipids within VSMCs. Representative 60x confocal images are shown. Equally zoomed insets are shown in the bottom left-hand corner of each image. The untreated (UT) controls were held for the duration of all in vitro experiments. Compared to UT and nLDL groups, cells treated with rWNT5A (100 ng/ml) and oxLDL (100 μg/mL) have increased red staining in the cytoplasm, indicating an increase in lipid within the cell. Box5 pre-treatment completely blocked lipid accumulation in response to rWNT5A and oxLDL. Quantification of lipid accumulation in each treatment group is representative of two independent experiments. (B) Western blots evaluating the expression of CD36 in VSMCs are shown. In response to rWNT5A (100 ng/mL), expression of CD36 in VSMCs was significantly increased (**, p < 0.01), which was blocked by pre-treatment with Box5. *** = compared to UT control (p < 0.001); $ = compared to rWNT5A (p < 0.05).