Abstract 83: Bone Marrow Derived Cells Do Not Mediate Reductions in Cholesterol, Atherosclerosis and Adiposity in Microsomal Prostaglindin E Synthase 1 Deficient Mice Fed High Fat Diets Enriched in Cholesterol

Microsomal prostaglandin E 2 synthase-1 (mPGES-1) catalyzes the conversion of COX-2 generated PGH 2 to PGE 2 and is the predominate source of PGE 2 during and inflammatory response. We and others have demonstrated that mPGES-1 deficiency attenuates atherosclerosis in mice on a mixed background. The present study investigated the effect of mPGES-1 deficiency on atherosclerosis in C57BL/6 low density lipoprotein receptor deficient (LDLr-/-) mice. mPGES-1 deficiency attenuated atherosclerosis in LDLr-/- mice fed either a low fat (LF) (P = 0.02) or high fat (HF) (P = 0.0026) diet enriched with cholesterol, or a western diet (P = 0.02) for 17 weeks. mPGES-1 deficiency attenuated weight gain and cholesterol concentrations in mice fed a western (P = 0.004 and P WT) or mPGES-1 specific expression in bone marrow derived cells (WT>KO) had an effect on lesion formation compared to WT>WT or KO>KO mice. Cholesterol concentrations were decreased in KO>KO and WT>KO mice compared to WT>WT (P WT (P