ABSTRACT
Aim To analyze the composition of immune cells in the inflammatory microenvironment of early atherosclerotic mice.Methods ApoE mice fed with high fat diet were userl to establish early athero¬sclerotic mouse model, and C57BL/6 mice fed normal diet were used as control.Oil red 0 staining, Masson's staining anrl biochemical analyzer were used to evaluate the success of the model construction.Infiltration of in¬nate immune cells and adaptive immune cells in aorta, peripheral blood, spleen and bone marrow of mice was detected and analyzed by flow cytometry.Results Compared with C57 mice, lipids infiltration in aortic root of ApoE mice increased and lipids level signifi¬cantly increased ( P < 0.01 ).Compared with those of C57 mice, the proportions of neutrophils, mast cells, natural killer cells and monocytes/macrophages in the aorta and peripheral blood of ApoE mice signifi¬cantly increased (P < 0.05 ) and the infiltrated mono¬cytes/ macrophages were mainly pro-inflammatory M1 monocytes/macrophages ( P < 0.05 ).The percentages of infiltrating CD3 4 T cells, Thl7 cells and Tel7 cells in the aorta, peripheral bloorl and spleen of ApoE mice significantly increased ( P < 0.05) or had an in¬creasing tendency.Conclusions At the early stage of atherosclerosis, a variety of innate immune cells and a- daptive immune cells promote the formation of inflam¬matory microenvironment, which plays an important role in the initiation of atherosclerosis.