Attenuation of early atherogenesis in LDLR-KO mice by proteasome inhibition. Mus musculus

To get further insights into the processes leading to attenuation of early stage atherosclerosis in the bortezomib treated LDLR-KO mice, microarray profiling of gene expression was performed on RNA taken from whole aortae of bortezomib treated LDLR-KO and sham- treated LDLR-KO mice fed a Western diet for 6 weeks and compared the changes in gene expression in both groups to non-atherosclerotic CD animals. Overall design: Male 10-week-old LDLR-KO mice (B6.129S7-Ldlrtm1Her/J; JAX Mice, Boston) were fed a Western-type diet for 6 weeks ad libitum and received intraperitoneal injections of bortezomib (50 µg/kg body weight; WD+Bor) or saline (WD) twice weekly (n = 4). Mice that were fed normal diet served as chow diet control (CD; n = 4). Gene expression in aortic tissue was measured. Two independent experiments were performed.