Fig. 8

The percentage of the area of lymphocyte infiltration correlates with that of the local lipid accumulation in LDLr⁻/⁻ mice liver. After 24 weeks of HFD, the serum lipid levels in LDLr^−/−/MD-1^−/− mice with liver lymphocyte infiltration were plotted relative to those in LDLr^−/−/MD-1^−/− mice without infiltration, presented as a volcano plot. (a): Positive ion mode. (b): Negative ion mode. The plots in the upper (P < 0.05) and right (Log2 fold change > 1) corners (yellow area) indicate lipids that were significantly increased in LDLr^−/−/MD-1^−/− mice with liver lymphocyte infiltration compared to those without infiltration (Student’s t-test). Comparison of (c) the percentage of Oil red O positive stained areas relative to total liver areas, or (d) the droplet size of Oil red O positive stained in the liver in LDLr^−/−/MD-1^−/− mice between lymphocyte infiltration negative and positive groups (negative: n = 6, positive: n = 4, (c): Student’s t-test, (d): Mann–Whitney’s U test, These results are modified based on the results of the LDLr^−/−/MD-1^−/− mice in Fig. 5a.). The bar represents the median. n.s., not significant. (e) Scatter plot showing the correlation between the percentage of Oil red O positive staining and that of the positive area of lymphocyte infiltration in all (LDLr^−/−/MD-1^+/− and LDLr^−/−/MD-1^−/−) mice. White circle: LDLr^−/−/MD-1^+/− mice. Grey circle: LDLr^−/−/MD-1^−/− mice. The correlation coefficient was 0.459 (P = 0.0456), suggesting a significant correlation between these two variables. (LDLr^−/−/MD-1^+/− mice: n = 10, LDLr^−/−/MD-1^−/− mice: n = 10, Spearman’s correlation coefficient by rank test. These results are modified based on the results of all mice in Fig. 5a and Supplementary Fig. 5a.). *P < 0.05.