Fig. 1

HHcy accelerates the progression of atherosclerosis in ApoE^−/− mice. A Plasma levels of Hcy assessed by ELISA. B The images of whole aorta and aortic arch. The scale bars correspond to 1 mm. C Representative images of Oil-red O staining of cardiac aorta in mice of two groups (n = 5). The scale bars correspond to 1 mm. D Oil-red O staining was performed on frozen aortic root sections from the two groups (n = 5). The scale bars correspond to 500 μm. E Relative quantitative analysis of lipid deposition. F HE staining was performed on the two groups (n = 5). The scale bars correspond to 500 μm. G Relative quantitative analysis of aortic root lesion areas. H Masson staining was performed to assess the relative collagen content (n = 5). The scale bars correspond to 500 μm. I The relative collagen contents were quantified. J Representative sections double stained for CD68 (green) and Caspase-1/NLRP3/GSDMD (red). The scale bars correspond to 100 μm. K Western blot result of pyroptosis-related proteins with aortas of two groups (n = 3). The data are shown as the mean ± SD. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001