ATO inhibits inflammatory factor expression in ApoE-/- mice and macrophages
Mounting evidence points towards a role of inflammation in plaque progression and vulnerability (Kataoka et al. , 2015). We analysed inflammatory cytokine expression in carotid plaques in control and ATO-treated mice. Our results showed that IL-6 and TNFα mRNA levels were significantly decreased, whereas IL-10 mRNA expression was increased in the ATO group (Figure 3D-F). A similar tendency was observed for inflammatory cytokines in the serum (Figure 3A-C). These results suggest that ATO attenuates atherosclerosis by inhibiting the expression and secretion of inflammatory factors in the entire body and lesions of ApoE-/- mice. Consistently, ATO significantly reduced the IL-6 and TNFα mRNA levels in ox-LDL treated RAW264.7 cells (Figure 3G, H), while increasing the IL-10 mRNA levels (Figure 3I). These data suggest that ATO reduces the expression and secretion of inflammatory factors.