We assessed the presence of atherosclerotic lesions by using Oil Red O staining of entire aortas and aortic roots from atherosclerosis-prone ApoE-/- mice, after 8 weeks of exposure to IH or N. We found that blocking VE-cadherin cleavage with the three inhibitors prevented the IH-induced enhancement of atherosclerotic plaque formation in aortas (Figure 5a–c). This evidence concerns the gene CDH5 and atherosclerosis.