FIGURE 5.

Suppression of gasdermin D attenuated atherosclerosis plaque progression and macrophage infiltration in ApoE^−/− mice. (A) Left, overall comparison of representative whole-aortas stained with Oil-Red-O staining (n = 5 mice per group; scale bar, 1 mm). Right, quantitative results of the stained area in the entire aortas of ApoE^−/− mice administered with vector AAV-gasdermin D or the control vector AAV-control after 12 weeks of HFHC diet treatment. (B) Left, histological analysis of aortic root sections stained with H&E and ORO staining in the aortic root sections of ApoE^−/− mice administered with vector AAV-GSDMD or the control vector AAV-control after 12 weeks of HFHC diet treatment (n = 4 mice per group; scale bar, 100 μm). Right, statistical analysis of the stained atherosclerotic lesion area in the aortic root sections by ORO staining in the indicated groups (n ≥ 20 fields per group). (C) Left, flow cytometric analysis of aortic macrophage content, determined as F4/80 and CD11b positive cells in ApoE^−/− mice administered vector AAV-GSDMD or the control vector AAV-control after 12 weeks of HFHC diet treatment (n = 4 mice per group). Right, statistical analysis of macrophage content in the indicated groups. (D) Left, representative images of F4/80 (red) and DAPI (blue) in aortic root sections of the F4/80 positive area of aortic root sections in ApoE^−/− mice administered vector AAV-GSDMD or the control vector AAV-control after 12 weeks of HFHC diet treatment (n = 4 mice per group; scale bar, 100 μm). Right, quantification analysis of the F4/80 positive area and aortic area ratio in the indicated groups (n ≥ 20 fields per group). Data shown are mean ± SD (A–D). Data were first analyzed and passed normality test (Shapiro-Wilk test). p values were shown and assessed by Mann-Whitney test (A–D). All of the p values were labelled in the figure and p < 0.05 was considered to indicate statistical significance. AAV-D, AAV-5-gasdermin D; GSDMD, gasdermin D.