FIG. 1.

(A) At 8 weeks on the lithogenic diet, the prevalent rates of gallstones are 10% in OVX wild-type mice receiving no G-1, and most of these mice form solid cholesterol monohydrate crystals. The GPR30-selective agonist G-1 promotes gallstone formation in 80% of OVX wild-type and ERα^−/− mice. Notably, only solid cholesterol monohydrate crystals, but not gallstones, are found in OVX GPR30^−/− mice even treated with G-1 for 8 weeks. (B) Representative photomicrographs of solid plate-like cholesterol monohydrate crystals and gallstones as observed by polarizing light microscopy in gallbladder bile of OVX wild-type, GPR30^−/−, and ERα^−/− mice injected intramuscularly with G-1 at 0 or 1 μg/day and fed the lithogenic diet for 8 weeks. Magnifications are ×800 for left two panels and ×200 for right two panels.