Adipocyte calcium sensing receptor is not involved in visceral adipose tissue inflammation or atherosclerosis development in hyperlipidemic Apoe−/− mice

Figure 1. Adipocyte specific CaSR deficiency does not influence early atherosclerotic lesion development. (a) Representation of the experimental workflow. Mice were crossed and offspring were injected with tamoxifen and fed a HFD for 4 weeks before analysis. (b) Schematic representation of the areas that were used for analysing atherosclerotic plaques. (c) Representative images and quantification of aortic root lesions in both AdipoqCre− Casrflox Apoe−/− and AdipoqCre+ Casrflox Apoe−/− mice (n = 10–12). Scale bar 500 µm. (d) Quantification of aortic arch lesions in AdipoqCre− Casrflox Apoe−/− and AdipoqCre+ Casrflox Apoe−/− mice (n = 10–15). (e) Quantification of macrophage content of aortic root lesions in AdipoqCre− Casrflox Apoe−/− and AdipoqCre+ Casrflox Apoe−/− mice (n = 11–13). (f) Images to represent the presence of collagen in aortic root lesions and quantification in AdipoqCre− Casrflox Apoe−/− and AdipoqCre+ Casrflox Apoe−/− mice (n = 11–12). Scale bar 250 µm. (g,h) Quantification of plasma triglycerides (g) and cholesterol (h) levels of AdipoqCre− Casrflox Apoe−/− and AdipoqCre+ Casrflox Apoe−/− mice (n = 10–15). Image processing was done using Image J 1.53…

Figure 2. Adipocyte specific CaSR deficiency does not influence advanced stages of atherosclerosis. (a) Representation of the experimental workflow. Mice were crossed and offspring were injected with tamoxifen and fed a HFD for 12 weeks before analysis. (b) Schematic representation of the areas that were used for analysing atherosclerotic plaques. (c) Representative images and quantification of aortic root lesions in both AdipoqCre− Casrflox Apoe−/− and AdipoqCre+ Casrflox Apoe−/− mice (n = 9–10). Scale bar 500 µm. (d,e) Quantification of aortic arch lesions (n = 5) (d) and thoraco-abdominal aortic lesions (n = 9–10) (e) in AdipoqCre− Casrflox Apoe−/− and AdipoqCre+ Casrflox Apoe−/− mice. (f) Quantification of macrophage content of aortic root lesions in AdipoqCre− Casrflox Apoe−/− and AdipoqCre+ Casrflox Apoe−/− mice (n = 9). (g) Images to represent the presence of collagen in plaques in aortic roots and their quantification in AdipoqCre− Casrflox Apoe−/− and AdipoqCre+ Casrflox Apoe−/− mice (n = 10). Scale bar 250 µm. (h,i) Quantification of plasma triglycerides (h) and cholesterol (i) levels of AdipoqCre− Casrflox Apoe−/− and AdipoqCre+ Casrflox Apoe−/− mice (n = 10–11). Image…

Figure 3. CaSR in adipocytes does not interfere with vAT inflammation in-vivo. (a–f) Inflammatory cytokines CCL2 (a,b), IL6 (c,d) and TNF-α (e,f) were measured in vAT isolated from AdipoqCre− Casrflox Apoe−/− and AdipoqCre+ Casrflox Apoe−/− after 4 (blue; a,c,e; n = 10–14) and 12 weeks (orange; b,d,f; n = 8–11) of HFD. (g–j) triglycerides (g,h) and cholesterol (i,j) in vAT from the mice were measured after 4 (blue; g,i; n = 10–15) and 12 weeks (orange; h,j; n = 10–11) of HFD. Bar graphs are representation of mean ± SEM. **p < 0.01.