Figure 1.

CRO decreased the weight gain, ameliorated the abnormal serum lipid levels, and inhibited the aortic plaque formation and the deposition of lipid but increased the collagen fibers in the plaque of mice with AS.

(A) The body weight of mice after being fed with HFD and CRO treatment or not was recorded. (B-E) The serum levels of TC (B), TG (C), HDL-C (D), and LDL-C (E) after mice being fed with HFD and CRO treatment or not were determined by ELISA. (F, I) The aortic plaque formation of the mice after being fed with HFD and CRO treatment or not was detected by hematoxylin-eosin staining (magnification: ×8). (G, J) The deposition of lipid in the aortic plaque of the mice after being fed with HFD and CRO treatment or not was evaluated by Oil-red-O staining (magnification: ×8). (H, K) The deposition of collagen in the aortic plaque of the mice after being fed with HFD and CRO treatment or not was evaluated by Masson staining (magnification: ×8). All experiments have been performed independently in triplicate and data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, vs. Sham; ^#P < 0.05, ^##P < 0.01, ^###P < 0.001, vs. HFD. AS: Atherosclerosis, CRO-L: low dose of Crocin, CRO-H: high dose of Crocin, HFD: high-fat diet, TC: total cholesterol, TG: triglyceride, HDL-C: high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, LDL-C: low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol; ELISA: enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.