Seventy-five C57BL/6 ApoE-/- mice were purchased from Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME, USA) and were randomly divided into five groups after 1 week of acclimation: (1) high-cholesterol diet (HCD, n = 15): 1% cholesterol and 5% lard (Alpha Biotechnologies, Wuhan, China) for 16 weeks; (2) HCD plus ticagrelor (AstraZeneca, London, UK) 25 mg/kg/d by gavage for 16 weeks (T1, n = 15); (3) HCD plus ticagrelor 50 mg/kg/d by gavage for 16 weeks (T2, n = 15); (4) HCD plus ticagrelor 100 mg/kg/d by gavage for 16 weeks (T3, n = 15); and (5) a normal diet group (ND, n = 15). The ND and HCD group received saline as control. All animals were allowed to drink water ad libitum and gained weight during the process of the study. Mice were bred and maintained in the animal center of Beijing University. All animal studies were approved by the animal study committee of Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology following the principles of the experimental animal ethics.
At day 0 and at week 16, fractionated blood was collected from the caudal vein in conscious mice (0.1–0.2 ml each time) to measure blood lipids, serum TSLP levels, ATP release, platelet aggregation, and expression of TSLPR, CD62, and CD63.
At day 0 and at week 16, fractionated blood was collected from the caudal vein in conscious mice (0.1–0.2 ml each time) to measure blood lipids, serum TSLP levels, ATP release, platelet aggregation, and expression of TSLPR, CD62, and CD63.