Accumulation and aberrant composition of cholesteryl esters in Scrapie-infected N2a cells and C57BL/6 mouse brains

Table 3 Amplex Red vs. HPLC-MS cholesterol compositions in brains of untreated and pravastatin-treated Scrapie-infected C57BL/6 mice.

Method	Scrapie-infected mouse brains	μ mol/g tissue			CE/TC %
		TC	FC	CE
Amplex Red	Untreated	283.48 ± 8.74	282.24 ± 9.88	1.24 ± 1.59	0.43
	PRV-treated	279.12 ± 6.84	276.68 ± 8.74	2.44 ± 1.27	0.87
		p = 0.462	p = 0.432	p = 0.283
HPLC-MS	Untreated	156.58 ± 25.46	137.24 ± 16.70	19.33 ± 3.20	12.34
	PRV-treated	134.17 ± 27.74	106.03 ± 13.46*	28.14 ± 6.62*	20.97
		p = 0.247	*p = 0.026*	*p = 0.05*

Total (TC), free (FC) and esterified (CE) cholesterol in brain extracts of 139A-scrapie infected (n = 4), and of 139A-scrapie-infected C57Bl/6 mice treated with pravastatin (PRV, 200 mg/kg b.w.). Values represent the mean ± SD of triplicate determinations and are representative of at least three independent. *Statistical significance by unpaired Student's t-test.

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