B6 cg cav1tm1mls j

The inbred mice strains C57BL/6J (strain # 000664), AKR/J (strain # 00064), and B6.Cg-Cav1^tm1Mls/J (strain # 007083) used in this study were purchased from the Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME, USA). Approximately 8-week-old mice of these strains were used to establish timed pregnancies separately, as described previously [6 (link)]. The vaginal plug was observed to keep a record of the start of pregnancy (day 1). On days (d) 12, 15, and 17, the pregnant mice were euthanized, the fetuses were collected [15 (link)] and washed in sterile PBS, and the whole brain was dissected from each fetus [27 (link)].

Female C57BL/6J, B6.MRL-Fas^lpr/J (MRL/lpr, Fas-deficient), and B6.Cg-Cav1^{TM 1Mls}/J (Cav-1 knockout) mice were purchased from the Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME, United States) and Laboratory Animal Center of Sun Yat-sen University. Age-matched 8–10-week female mice from the same background were used in all experiments. All the animals were fed under specific pathogen-free conditions with an ambient temperature of 24°C, 55–65% relative humidity, and a 12:12 h light:dark cycle. Animal experiments were performed under protocols institutionally approved by Animal Care and Use Committee of Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU-IACUC-2021-000118).

The animal protocol was reviewed and approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of the Iowa City Veterans Affairs Health Care System and complied with the Guiding Principles for Research Involving Animals and Human Beings. Beginning at 9 weeks of age, male C57BL/6J mice (wild type, WT) and mice deficient in caveolin‐1 (B6.Cg‐Cav1^tm1Mls/J, Jackson Laboratories, stock #007083, cav‐1 KO) were randomly fed either normal mouse diet (low fat, LF, 13% kcal fat, 7001; Teklad, Harlan Labs, Madison, WI) or high saturated fat diet (HF, 60% kcal fat from lard, Research Diets, New Brunswick, NJ, D12492) for 12 weeks. To determine if a change in dietary fatty acids could reverse the effects of a high saturated fat diet, at the end of 12 weeks in a random group of mice on high‐fat diet, half of the kcal from lard was replaced with menhaden oil (MO, Research Diets, New Brunswick, NJ, D10122003) and the mice were maintained for an additional 6–10 weeks. Prior to terminal studies, body composition (nuclear magnetic resonance Bruker LF90II) was measured. For terminal study, mice were euthanized with ketamine/xylazine (100/10 mg/kg, ip), weighed, and tissues and serum obtained for measurement of vascular function, protein expression, glucose and lipid analysis.