Fig. 1

Intestinal microbiota depletion raises plasma cholesterol levels and intestinal cholesterol absorption. a Experimental design. See also Additional file 2: Figure S1. b Plasma cholesterol, phospholipids and triglycerides levels in conventionally raised (Conv-R) and microbiota-depleted mice (AB-Mdpl). c Cholesterol distribution across the VLDL, LDL, and HDL lipoprotein classes analyzed by fast protein liquid chromatography. d Plasma radioactivity 2 h after gavage with [³H]-cholesterol. e Relative expression of genes related to cholesterol absorption in the jejunum. f Relative expression of genes related to lipoprotein secretion in the jejunum. Data are represented as mean ± SEM, n = 5–10 mice/group (d, e) or as dots with median (b–f). Data were analyzed with Mann–Whitney test. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001