Figure 3

Hepatic inflammation in wt and ApoE^−/− mice with or without WD or MCD diet.

(A) Representative sections and (B) quantification (% of positive stained area) of Ki67 immunohistochemistry, as marker of proliferation in the liver. Proliferation was significantly increased in ApoE^−/− mice fed with Western diet (WD) compared to wt littermates. In methionine and choline deficient (MCD) diet fed mice proliferation was slightly increased compared to ApoE^−/− mice fed with WD. (C) mRNA levels of pro-inflammatory markers IL1β, TNFα, MCP and Emr1 (F4/80) were elevated in ApoE^−/− mice compared to wt mice fed with WD or MCD diet. ApoE^−/− mice fed with MCD diet showed marked elevation of proinflammatory markers on mRNA level. (D) Representative sections and (E) quantification (% of positive stained area) of F4/80 immunohistochemistry, as marker of macrophages and liver inflammation. ApoE^−/− mice fed with WD showed significantly increased levels of F4/80 positive staining compared to wt mice fed with WD and to mice fed with MCD diet. Graphs are expressed as means ± standard deviation. The scale bar is 50 μm for Ki67 respectively 100 μm for F4/80 immunohistochemistry. p < 0.05 was considered significant.