Fig. 4: In vitro modulation of foam cell efferocytosis.

a Immunofluorescence images of CD47 in foam cells from various treatment groups. Scale bar: 50 μm. b Quantitative analysis of the CD47 expression under different treatment conditions (n = 3 independent experiments). c Western blot analysis of CD47 protein expression in foam cells treated with various formulations. d Schematic illustration of in vitro assessment of the ability of various nanoformulations in promoting foam cell efferocytosis. Created in BioRender. Li, W. (2026) https://BioRender.com/8ci0v9l. e Representative confocal microscopy images showing the colocalization of BMDMs and foam cells treated with different formulations. Scale bar: 50 μm. f The phagocytosis of foam cells by BMDMs determined by flow cytometry. g Quantification of foam cell phagocytosis by BMDMs according to flow cytometry analysis (n = 3 independent experiments). All data are expressed as mean ± SD. For c, e experiment was repeated three times independently with similar results. For b, g statistical significance was determined using one-way ANOVA for multiple comparisons. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.