Expression of immunologically silent or antagonistic lipid A structures exacerbates atherosclerotic plaque progression in the aorta.

<p>Plaque area was determined from Oil Red O staining for lipids in <i>en face</i> aortic lesions 16 wk after first infection from (<b>A</b>) sham-infected, (<b>B</b>) wild-type 381, (<b>C</b>) <i>PG1587</i>₃₈₁, and (<b>D</b>) <i>PG1773</i>₃₈₁. (<b>E</b>) Quantification of lipid content within total aorta was calculated using ImageJ software (NIH) (n = 8/group). * p<.05; two-tailed unpaired t-tests. (See also <b><a href="http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.ppat.1004215#ppat.1004215.s004" target="_blank">Figure S4</a></b>).