Figure 5

Roles of stretch and LDL in foam cell formation. (a) Relative gene expression of the factors associated with foam cell formation under LDL and stretch conditions. Quantitative real-time PCR assays of LDLR, CD36, SR-A1, LOX-1, LAL, ACAT1, nCEH, ABCA1, ABCG1, SR-BI and 18S were performed with extracting the total RNA in the co-cultures. The expressions of the target genes were analyzed through ΔCT method. (b) Protein expression of the factors associated with foam cell formation under LDL and stretch conditions. Western blot assays of LDLR, CD36, SR-A1, LOX-1, ABCA1, ABCG1, SR-BI, α-ACTIN and GPADH were performed with extracting the total intracellular protein in the co-cultures. (c) Intracellular ROS level measured by a fluorescence microscopy. (d) Intracellular ROS level measured by a fluorescence multi-well plate reader. The data were shown as mean ± SD (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01).