The Duality of Adiponectin: The Role of Sex in Atherosclerosis

Figures

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  Figure 1. Loss of adiponectin reduces plaque in males and increases it in females. En face analysis of plaque accumulation in male and female apoe−/−adipoq+/+, apoe−/−adipoq+/−, and apoe−/−adipoq−/− mice after 5 weeks of HFD treatment (n = 8 per group for males and 7–9 per group for females) (A). Plaque was quantified in the arch (B) and descending aorta (C). Serum from male and female apoe−/−adipoq+/+ and apoe−/−adipoq−/− mice was tested for estradiol (D). Serum from males and females in the 3 genotypes was used to measure cholesterol (E,G) and glucose (F,H).

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  Figure 2. Cardiovascular disease markers do not correlate with plaque accumulation. Serum from male and female apoe−/−adipoq+/+ and apoe−/−adipoq−/− mice fed HFD for 5 weeks was tested for soluble E selectin (sES) (A), ICAM (B), soluble P selectin (sPS) (C), THBD (D), MMP2 (E), MMP3 (F), MMP8 (G), and pro-MMP9 (H).

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  Figure 3. Inflammatory markers and chemokines are influenced by adiponectin genotype and sex. Serum samples from male and female apoe−/−adipoq+/+ and apoe−/−adipoq−/− animals treated for 5 weeks with HFD were tested for the expression of inflammatory markers and chemokines using the Milliplex mouse cytokine/chemokine panel 1 (A–T). Overall changes are summarized in (U). Blue arrows indicate downregulation and red arrows indicate upregulation in expression.

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  Figure 4. Age impairs the protective effect of adiponectin deficiency in male mice. Apoe−/−Adipoq+/+, apoe−/−adipoq+/−, and apoe−/−adipoq−/− male and female mice were aged to 1 year, and aortas were isolated for en face analysis of plaque (A). Plaque area was measured in the arch (B) and descending aorta (C) using ImageJ.

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  Figure 5. Lipid profile and glucose do not explain changes in plaque in old, adiponectin-deficient mice. Serums from one-year-old male and female apoe−/− and apoe−/−adipo+/− mice were tested for cholesterol (A), HDL (B), LDL (C), VLDL (D), TG (E), glucose (F), ALT (G) and AST (H) using a lipid plus panel and a Piccolo express analyzer (Abbott, Orlando, FL, USA).

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  Figure 6. Inflammatory markers and chemokines are influenced by adiponectin and sex during aging. Serum samples from one-year-old male apoe−/− (n = 15–18) mice and apoe−/−adipo+/− (n = 8–9) mice and female apoe−/− (n = 19–21) mice and apoe−/−adipo+/− (n = 4–6) mice were tested for the expression of inflammatory markers and chemokines using the Milliplex mouse cytokine/chemokine panel 1 (A–Q). Overall changes are summarized in (R).