Liuwei Dihuang soft capsules inhibits the phenotypic conversion of VSMC to prevent the menopausal atherosclerosis by up-regulating the expression of myocardin

Estrogen prevent atherosclerosis by attenuating endothelial cell pyroptosis via activation of estrogen receptor α-mediated autophagy

“…The lack of an estrus cycle (many white blood cells continuously observed), demonstrated that the ovaries were completely removed. After a week of being fed a normal diet, the bilateral ovariectomized ApoE-/- mice were switched to being fed a high-fat diet [25] , [26] , [27] .…”

“…Bilaterally ovariectomized ApoE-/- mice were randomly placed into two groups: the model group (n = 6) and the 17-β estradiol (E 2 ) (0.13 mg/kg) group (n = 6) [27] . All the mice were intragastrically treated once a day for 90 days.…”

“…As described in our previous study [27] , and following the the manufacturer's instructions, siRNA oligonucleotide transfection was performed as follows. To prepare the transfection solution, 6 μL of control siRNA or ERα siRNA was added into 100 μL transfection medium.…”

“…The tissues were imaged under an optical microscope (N-MSI-MANTRA, Perkin Elmer, America). Additional details for the procedures mentioned above are described in our previous study [27] .…”

“…The method for aorta oil red O staining was described in our previous study [27] . Briefly, after anesthetizing mice, the aorta connected to the heart was taken and fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde.…”