Figure 1 (abstract A11)

ZL improve the AS in rabbits. (A) The weight changes of all experimental animals within 28 days, and the analysis found that there was no statistical significance in the comparison of weight among the groups, the line chart showed the trend of weight growth, bars represent the mean ± SD, n = 10. (B) Original image of carotid artery detected by color Doppler ultrasound. Doppler ultrasound demonstrated the changes of (C) IMT and (D) VRI, and the measurements data on day 28th were used for statistical analysis. The automatic biochemical analyzer is used to detect the blood lipid content in the collected blood samples, (E) TC, (F) TG, (G) LDL-C and (H) HDL-C. Bars represent the mean ± SD, n = 10. (I) H&E staining, (J) Masson staining. Under the microscope, 40 × images were acquired to show histological changes across the entire vessel cross-section, with 100 × magnification to reveal details. (K) Double immunofluorescence of NF-κB and NLRP3. Atherosclerotic tissue was stained with NF-κB (green), NLRP3 (red) and DAPI (blue) to mark atherosclerotic plaques and areas of inflammation, respective change in color in merged figures corresponds to Red + Blue = Magenta; Red + Green = Yellow. (L) Immunohistochemistry of IL-1β. For the above staining, we made two slices, and three fields of view (× 200) were randomly selected for each slice for gray value analysis. (M) Gray value analysis of Double immunofluorescence (NF-κB & NLRP3). (N) Gray value analysis of Immunohistochemistry (IL-1β). Bars represent the mean ± SD, n = 6. (O) Graphs showed relative expression levels of mRNA, including NF-κB, NLRP3, Caspase-1, IL-1β, and IL-18. Bars represent the mean ± SD, n = 6. Western blotting demonstrated ZL downregulated the protein expression of NF-κB/NLRP3 signaling in atherosclerotic tissue. (P) A representative immunoblot, (Q) p-NF-κB, (R) NLRP3, (S) Caspase-1, (T) IL-1β, (U) IL-18. Bars represent the mean ± SD, n = 3. *p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01 as compared to model group, #p < 0.05 and ##p < 0.01 as compared to model + ZL + atorvastatin group