Fig. 5.

Effect of liver-specific deletion of Dhcr7 on hepatic sterol content and liver architecture. Hepatic cholesterol (A), 7-DHC (B), desmosterol (C), 7-dehydrodesmosterol (D), lathosterol (E), and lanosterol (F) levels, and H&E stained sections of the liver tissue (G, H) from LKO and CTL mice are shown. Male livers showed no differences in cholesterol levels, but cholesterol levels were lower in livers of female LKO mice (A). As expected, 7-DHC was significantly higher in both male and female knockout livers (B), and while there were some statistical differences in other precursor sterols, there was a lack of a consistent pattern and there is considerable variability between samples (see text for Discussion). Liver micro-architecture was not affected by hepatic loss of Dhcr7 in either male or female mice (G, H). Males are represented by circles, and females by triangles. LKO mice are represented by open symbols and CTL mice by closed symbols. Bars denote the mean ± 1 SD, (∗P < 0.05 vs. sex-matched controls). Scale bar in H&E images represents 100 μm distance. N = 5–8 per group.