Fig. 2

Intestinal lesions and abnormal intestinal lipid levels in ApoE^−/− mice fed a high-cholesterol diet. A-B Representative images of HE staining of the small intestine and evaluation scores of intestinal villi morphology. C-D Representative images of oil red O staining of proximal jejunum villi and quantitative analysis of the percentage of oil red O positive staining area. Original magnification: 40 × . E The lipids of small intestine samples were extracted, detected by HPLC-Q-TOF/MS, and statistically analyzed with different mathematical models. F Volcano diagrams of the ApoE^−/− + NF group and the ApoE^−/− + HF group. G PCA score chart, showing the difference between the C57BL/6 + NF group (green), the ApoE^−/− + NF group (blue), and the ApoE^−/− + HF group (red) in the small intestine samples. H The PLS-DA score chart shows the difference between the C57BL/6 + NF group (green), the ApoE^−/− + NF group (blue), and the ApoE^−/− + HF group (red) in the small intestine samples. I The heat map shows the difference in the small intestine lipids in each group. J-M The box plot reflects the relative content of each type of lipid. N–O Total cholesterol and free cholesterol in intestinal contents tested by kits. In all experiments, n = 5, the P value indicates the comparison with the ApoE^−/− + NF group. Values are expressed as mean ± SEM