BackgroundStatins are first-line pharmacotherapeutic agents for hypercholesterolemia treatment in humans. However the effects of statins on atherosclerosis in mouse models are very paradoxical. In this work, we wanted to evaluate the effects of simvastatin on serum cholesterol, atherogenesis, and the expression of several factors playing important roles in reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) in apoE-/- mice fed a high-fat diet.ResultsThe atherosclerotic lesion formation displayed by oil red O staining positive area was reduced significantly by 35% or 47% in either aortic root section or aortic arch en face in simvastatin administrated apoE-/- mice compared to the control. Plasma analysis by enzymatic method or ELISA showed that high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) contents were remarkably increased by treatment with simvastatin. And plasma lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) activity was markedly increased by simvastatin treatment. Real-time PCR detection disclosed that the expression of several transporters involved in reverse cholesterol transport, including macrophage scavenger receptor class B type I, hepatic ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters ABCG5, and ABCB4 were induced by simvastatin treatment, the expression of hepatic ABCA1 and apoA-I, which play roles in the maturation of HDL-C, were also elevated in simvastatin treated groups.ConclusionsWe demonstrated the anti-atherogenesis effects of simvastatin in apoE-/- mice fed a high-fat diet. We confirmed here for the first time simvastatin increased the expression of hepatic ABCB4 and ABCG5, which involved in secretion of cholesterol and bile acids into the bile, besides upregulated ABCA1 and apoA-I. The elevated HDL-C level, increased LCAT activity and the stimulation of several transporters involved in RCT may all contribute to the anti-atherosclerotic effect of simvastatin.
Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have received great attention because of their excellent photovoltaic properties especially for the comparable efficiency to silicon solar cells. The electron transport layer (ETL) is regarded as a crucial medium in transporting electrons and blocking holes for PSCs. In this study, CO plasma generated by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) was introduced to modify the TiO ETL. The results indicated that the CO plasma-treated compact TiO layer exhibited better surface hydrophilicity, higher conductivity, and lower bulk defect state density in comparison with the pristine TiO film. The quality of the stoichiometric TiO structure was improved, and the concentration of oxygen-deficiency-induced defect sites was reduced significantly after CO plasma treatment for 90 s. The PSCs with the TiO film treated by CO plasma for 90 s exhibited simultaneously improved short-circuit current (J) and fill factor. As a result, the PSC-based TiO ETL with CO plasma treatment affords a power conversion efficiency of 15.39%, outperforming that based on pristine TiO (13.54%). These results indicate that the plasma treatment by the PECVD method is an effective approach to modify the ETL for high-performance planar PSCs.
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