Fig. 5: Increased cholesterol level in PCOS mice is driven by PCOS pathophysiology and cannot be modulated via diet.

a Serum cholesterol levels, showing that regardless of diet androgen excess leads to a non-significant increase in serum cholesterol levels (P = 0.06). Significance determined by Mann–Whitney test. Data presented as violin plots, doted lines indicate the median and dashed lines the 25 and 75% percentiles. b–g 3D GAM Response surfaces displaying the relationship between macronutrient intake (kJ/day) and serum cholesterol levels in control (b–d) and PCOS mice (e–g), showing that macronutrient intake had no influence on cholesterol levels in control mice, while F intake was the main driver for increased serum cholesterol levels in PCOS mice (f, g). Red areas indicate the greatest value for each response, which then decreases to the lowest value as the color shifts to blue. h–j 3D GAM response surfaces showing the effects of C and F intakes on serum cholesterol levels in control mice (h), PCOS mice (i) and response difference (j), showing that overall cholesterol levels in PCOS mice are significantly different to control mice due to the underlying pathophysiology of PCOS. However, serum cholesterol levels in PCOS females reached comparable levels to control when F intake was reduced to <20 kJ/day. a–j n = 91 control and 89 PCOS mice.