Rapamycin and FTY720 Alleviate Atherosclerosis by Cross Talk of Macrophage Polarization and Autophagy

Figure 3

FTY720 reduces lipid accumulation by M2 polarization of foam cells. (a) Real-time PCR showing Arg1, Mrc1, IL-6, and iNOS expression with various concentrations of rapamycin treatment in macrophages and foam cells. (b) Western blot showing LC3, ARG1, COX2, IL-6, and TGF-β in macrophages and foam cells treated with various concentrations of rapamycin. (c) Results shown representative of 3 independent experiments, each experiment repeated 3 times. Data representative of protein and relative GAPDH are shown as histograms; P < .05 vs. untreated controls. (d) Oil Red O staining demonstrating that FTY720 reduced lipid accumulation in macrophage foam cells; bar, 100 μm. (e) Percentage of foam cells with high intensity from 3 experimental iterations: 6 views were analyzed from 2 randomly selected staining wells; P < .05 and P < .01 vs. ox-LDL.