Fig. 7 ∣. Asters are required for storage of dietary cholesterol as CEs in hepatocytes.

a, Total liver cholesterol in F/F and L-A/C KO mice after 12 weeks of WD feeding (n = 8 and 9). b, Total liver CEs from a (n = 3 and 3). c, Individual hepatic CE species (nmol mg⁻¹ liver) from a (n = 3 and 3). d, Expression levels of the indicated genes from a (n = 8 and 12). e, Expression levels of the indicated genes in livers from Aster-A and Aster-C F/F mice transduced with AAV8-TBG-Cre compared to control AAV8-TBG-null for 2 weeks. Mice were then fed with WD for 4 weeks (n = 5 and 5). All data are presented as mean ± s.e.m. P values were determined by two-sided Student’s t-test (a,b), or two-sided Student’s t-test with Benjamini, Krieger and Yekutieli correction for multiple comparisons (c–e). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001.