Fig. 2

Intestinal microbiota depletion increases hepatic cholesterol uptake and hepatic cholesterol synthesis. a Liver radioactivity 2 h after gavage with [³H]-cholesterol in conventionally raised (Conv-R) and microbiota-depleted mice (AB-Mdpl). b Hepatic relative expression of cholesterol transporters. c Plasma cholesterol increase in microbiota-depleted mice in comparison to control mice in Apoe (○) and LDLr (□)^−/− mice. d Hepatic relative expression of genes related to cholesterol synthesis. See also Additional file 5: Figure S3. e Cholesterol and lathosterol concentration analyzed by GC-MS in the liver. Data are represented as mean ± SEM, n = 6–9 mice/group (b–d) or as dots with median (a, c, e). Data were analyzed with Mann–Whitney test. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001