Fig. 2 ∣. Asters facilitate hepatocyte PM to ER cholesterol transport during fasting.

a, PM free cholesterol from F/F and L-A/C KO mice after 4 or 16 h fasting (n = 3 and 3). b, Total hepatic CEs from F/F and L-A/C KO mice after 4 and 16 h fasting (n = 7, 6, 5 and 6). c, Individual hepatic CE species (nmol mg⁻¹ liver) from F/F and L-A/C KO mice after 16 h fasting (n = 3 and 3). d, Hepatic mRNA expression of SREBP-2 pathway targets from livers of F/F and L-A/C KO mice after 16 h fasting (n = 10 and 18). e, Immunoblot analysis of indicated proteins from livers of F/F and L-A/C KO mice after 16 h fasting (n = 5 and 5). Calnexin was used as a sample processing control. f, Hepatic mRNA expression of SREBP-2 pathway targets from livers of F/F and L-A/C KO mice after chow or statin diet feeding for 5 d (n = 10 and 18 for chow diet and n = 7 and 8 for statin diet). g, Immunoblot analysis of membrane (top) and nuclear (bottom) SREBP-2 protein levels from livers of F/F and L-A/C KO mice after statin diet feeding (n = 4 and 4). Calnexin (top) and Lamin A/C (bottom) were used as sample processing controls. h, Total hepatic CEs from livers of F/F and L-A/C KO mice after statin diet feeding (n = 7 and 8). i, Individual hepatic CE species (nmol mg⁻¹ liver) from livers of F/F and L-A/C KO mice after statin diet feeding (n = 7 and 8). All data are presented as mean ± s.e.m. P values were determined by two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Sidak’s correction for multiple comparisons (a,b), two-sided Student’s t-test (h) or two-sided Student’s t-test with Benjamini, Krieger and Yekutieli correction for multiple comparisons (c,d,i). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001.