Fig. 1

Atherosclerotic plaque characterization. Lipid was stained red with Oil Red O at the aortic sinus (a, LHS), and Sudan IV in the aortic tree (b) (Ascending aorta, arch of aorta, part of the descending aorta, brachiocephalic artery, left common carotid artery and left subclavian artery was magnified at the RHS of a); the size of the lesion area at the aortic sinus (c) and the entire aortic tree (d) was quantified using ImageJ. Significant difference of ND from the HF group was denoted by ### P < 0.001; significant difference of the treatment groups from HF group was donated by ***P < 0.001. ApoE−/− mice were fed on either normal chow diet (ND) or high fat (HF) diet with or without LGG (1×108CFU/day) or TLM (5 mg/kg/day)