Leishmania major Self-Limited Infection Increases Blood Cholesterol and Promotes Atherosclerosis Development

Table 1

Final body weight, food intake, and cecal and hepatic lipids of non-infected (control) and L. major-infected (L. major) apoE KO mice 6 weeks after the inoculation of 1 × 10⁶ parasites (clone WHO MHOM/IL/80/Friedlin) into footpad.

Parameter	Control ApoE KO	L. major ApoE KO
Final body weight (g)	22.18 ± 0.77	20.67 ± 0.7
Food intake (g/week/mouse)	25.10 ± 0.95	24.72 ± 0.85
Liver lipids
Total lipids (mg/g)	252.0 ± 12.0	172.0 ± 21.0*
Total cholesterol (mg/g)	14.1 ± 1.3	13.2 ± 0.9
Triacylglycerols (mg/g)	49.7 ± 4.4	30.2 ± 4.5*
Cecum lipids
Total lipids (mg/g)	51.1 ± 8.9	70.0 ± 11
Total cholesterol (mg/g)	2.8 ± 0.3	2.4 ± 0.3
Triacylglycerols (mg/g)	0.97 ± 0.2	0.86 ± 0.21

Control group, 𝑛 = 8–11, and L. major group, 𝑛 = 10–13. Results are expressed as the means ± SE. *𝑃≤0.05.