Fig. 6.

Atorvastatin fails to induce plaque regression without cholesterol lowering in Apoe^–/– mice. a Study design and diet scheme similar to Fig. 1a with Apoe^–/– mice fed a high-cholesterol diet (1.25% cholesterol) for 12 weeks, followed by 4 weeks of low-cholesterol diet (LCD, 0.05% cholesterol) (Baseline, Base), and 4 weeks of continued LCD (Control, Ctrl) versus LCD supplemented with 0.01% (w/w) atorvastatin (Statin). b–d Lesion size was measured on 8 aortic root sections at 50-µm intervals starting from valve initiation c, and plaque composition was analyzed by quantifying the percent ORO⁺, CD68⁺ and collagen⁺ areas within lesions (d). Representative images of aortic root sections are show in (b) and Supplemental Fig. 8. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. *,§p < 0.05 denote statistically significant differences between the Ctrl and Base (*) or Statin (§) groups, Base group n = 7, Ctrl and Statin groups n = 8 each, one-way ANOVA. e, f Quantification of Mϕ proliferation based on BrdU incorporation e and of Mϕ egress based on bead retention f in aortic root lesions. Results are presented as mean ± SEM on the right, Base group n = 7, Ctrl and Statin groups n = 8 each, one-way ANOVA. Representative images are shown on the left