Effects of paternal high cholesterol diet on F1 generation intimal transcriptome

Purpose: To investigate the effects of paternal high cholesterol diet on the F1 intimal transcriptome related to atherosclerosis. Methods:Three-week-old male LDL Receptor-deficient (LDLR-/-) male mice were fed a low-cholesterol diet (LCD) or high-cholesterol diet (HCD) for 8 weeks and then mated with age-matched control LDLR-/- female mice to generate F1 offspring. F1 LDLR-/- mice were fed a LCD for 16 weeks. Intimal RNA was extracted by injecting Trizol into the aorta and collecting the flow through for further processing. Results: . Total RNA isolated from the F1 intima were then subjected for RNA-sequencing analysis and results show that paternal hypercholesterolemia led to upregulation of 147 genes in the intimal of F1 female mice, many of which are involved in immune and inflammatory pathways.