Fig. 2

Comparison of atherosclerotic lesions and inflammatory cytokine expression between ApoE^−/− and ApoE^−/−NPRC^−/− mice. a Representative images of Oil Red O staining of en face aorta (upper panel) and quantification of Oil red O positive staining area (lower panel) in ApoE^−/− and ApoE^−/−NPRC^−/− mice (n = 10 per group) (scale bar = 5 mm). b Representative images of H&E staining (scale bar = 200 μm), Oil Red O staining (scale bar = 50 μm), Sirius red staining (scale bar = 100 μm) and immunohistochemical staining for Moma2 (scale bar = 50 μm) and α-SMA (scale bar = 50 μm) in the aortic tissues of ApoE^−/− and ApoE^−/−NPRC^−/− mice. c Quantification of cross-sectional and en face aortic plaque area, and Moma2, α-SMA and collagen I positive staining area in ApoE^−/− and ApoE^−/− NPRC^−/− mice (n = 5 per group). d Representative images of immunohistochemical staining for TNFα, MCP1, and IL-6 in atherosclerotic lesions of ApoE^−/− and ApoE^−/−NPRC^−/− mice (scale = 50 μm). e Quantification of TNFα, MCP1, and IL-6 positive staining area in atherosclerotic lesions of ApoE^−/− and ApoE^−/−NPRC^−/− mice (n = 5 per group). f Representative images of immunohistochemical staining for ICAM1 and VCAM1 in atherosclerotic lesions of ApoE^−/− and ApoE^−/−NPRC^−/− mice (scale = 100 μm). g Quantification of ICAM1 and VCAM1 positive staining area in atherosclerotic lesions of ApoE^−/− and ApoE^−/−NPRC^−/− mice (n = 5 per group). h Serum levels of IL-6, MCP1, TNFα, ICAM1, and VCAM1 in ApoE^−/− and ApoE^−/−NPRC^−/− mice measured by MSD (n = 10 per group). Normal distributions were tested by Shapiro–Wilk method. Unpaired two-tailed Student’s t tests were applied in (a), (c), (e), (g), and (h)