Fig. 4
LDL from SLE patients induces oxidative stress in vivo. a Zebrafish embryos were injected with LDL from SLE patients (n = 19) or HCs (n = 8), and oxidation of dihydroethidium (DHE, bright red; a surrogate marker for reactive oxygen species production) was observed under a fluorescence microscope. The embryos injected with SLE-LDL showed increased fluorescence compared with those treated with PBS or HC-LDL. b SLE-LDL induced significantly more oxidation than HC-LDL. c The embryos injected with oxLDL alone showed strong fluorescence, which was reduced upon co-injection of HDL3 from HCs or SLE patients. d HDL3 from SLE patients induced significantly more DHE oxidation than that from HCs. e Injection of SLE-LDL reduced the embryo survival to a greater extent than HC-LDL or PBS. f The embryos treated with purified oxLDL showed a markedly reduced survival rate after 48 hours. HDL3 from SLE patients and HCs increased the survival of embryos treated with oxLDL. HC-HDL3 improved the survival to a greater extent than SLE-HLD3. Data are expressed as the mean and SEM (* p < 0.001). AU arbitrary units, DHE dihydroethidium, HC healthy control, MDA malondialdehyde, SLE systemic lupus erythematosus