2.1. Animals
Male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats (180-200g) were obtained from the Laboratory Animal Center, Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, China (SCXX (XIANG) 2017-0034). Wild type (WT) and LOX-1 knockout (Olr1-/- ) rats were generated by Cyagen Biosciences (Suzhou, China), as previously described(Ge et al., 2021). Animal studies are reported in compliance with the ARRIVE guidelines and with the recommendations made by the British Journal of Pharmacology . The protocols on the ethics of animal (No. CSU2017009) were approved by the Medical Animal Welfare Committee of Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University. Rats were feed under a 12 h light/dark cycle in a temperature-controlled and humidity-controlled room with food and water available ad libitum . Animals were euthanized by cervical dislocation under isoflurane anaesthesia, after which organs were harvested.