Effect of BA on cholesterol content in THP-1 macrophage-derived foam cells at different time points.

THP-1 macrophage-derived foam cells were divided into five groups and cultured in medium at 37°C containing with or without LPS (10 ng/ml) for 24 h. LPS groups were the cells pre-treated with BA (1 µg/ml) for 0, 12, 24 and 48 h, respectively, and then exposed to LPS. Cellular cholesterol and cholesterol ester were extracted as described above. HPLC was performed to determine cellular total cholesterol (TC), free cholesterol (FC) and cholesterol ester (CE). The results are expressed as the mean ± S.D. of three independent experiments, each performed in triplicate. *,p<0.05, vs. control group. #,P<0.05 vs. (0 µg/ml) BA group.