Figure 2. The effects of GUDCA in systemic metabolism of ApoE‐/‐ mice under Western diet.

After a 10 weeks of Western diet feeding, ApoE‐/‐ mice were randomly divided into 2 groups and subsequently treated with GUDCA or its vehicle for 18 weeks. A, The animal experimental design; B, body weight changes; and C, average daily food intake after intervention. n=5 for control, n=7 for GUDCA. D, Blood glucose was measured after 4 h of fasting at the day of euthanasia. n=4 for control, n=6 for GUDCA. E, Liver index; and F, adiposity index were normalized to body weight. n=4 mice per groups. G, Liver histology by H&E (left), Oil red O (middle), and Sirius red (right) staining. Scale bar, 100 μm. H, Quantitative analysis of Oil red O area; and I, fibrosis area (shown as percentage of area). n=4 mice per groups, with 10 randomized high‐power fields per mouse. Data are presented with mean±SEM. J, Liver; K, plasma; and L, stool lipid profile. n=5 for Control, n=7 for GUDCA, with three duplicates for each test. Data are represented as box plots, where the boxes indicate the median and the interquartile ranges and the whiskers show as the minimum and maximum values. Statistical analyses were performed with unpaired 2‐tailed Student’s t‐test with or without Welch correction, depending on the distribution of these data. *P<0.05, **P<0.01 and ***P<0.001 vs control. ApoE‐/‐ indicates apolipoprotein E–deficient; GUDCA, glycoursodeoxycholic acid; H&E, hematoxylin and eosin; LDL‐c, low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol TC, total cholesterol; and TG, total triglycerides.