Fig. 3

Effect on THP-1 cells of adipocyte-derived EVs from subjects with Obesity and Lean subjects on cholesterol efflux gene expression and cholesterol efflux to media. THP-1 cells were incubated with obese and Lean visceral adipocyte-derived EVs for 24 h. a Images of fluorescently labeled THP-1 (blue) macrophages, fluorescently labeled Dil-oxLDL (red), and exosomes (1 μg/mL; unlabeled) VAT tissue exosomes from subjects with Obesity and Lean subjects. b Dil-oxLDL uptake by THP-1 cells is significantly increased (81%, p = 0.02) when incubated with adipocyte-derived EVs from obese subjects as compared exosomes from Lean subjects. Data is presented as mean ± std of 1 μg/mL experiments with n = 5 for each group at 1 μg/mL of EVs. c Cholesterol concentration was detected by fluorometric assay in both THP-1 cells and the surrounding medium after 24 h exposure to adipocyte-derived EVs from obese subjects and from Lean subjects. *p < 0.05 for experiments with 3 μg/mL exosomes vs 1 μg/mL exosomes. d ABCA1, ABCG1, CD36, 27OH, LXRA, and PPARG, measured in THP-1 cells incubated with adipocyte-derived EVs from obese and Lean subjects using qRT-PCR. Data is presented at mean ± std of fold changes in comparison to THP-1 cells not exposed (Control); **p < 0.01 and *p < 0.01 for experiments with 3 μg/mL exosomes vs 1 μg/mL EVs