Fig. 7

No significant changes in red cell biophysical properties were found between cells obtained from patients with varying total plasma cholesterol (TC) levels. Summary of tension (a) and bending modulus (b) values measured using flicker spectroscopy. Each circle represents data from a single cell, the solid line represents the median. Inter-group comparison of low TC, elevated and highly elevated TC red cell tension (c) and bending modulus values (d) revealed no significant differences between the groups. Each dot represents the median tension and bending modulus obtained in a, b, solid line represents the mean. The correlation between bending modulus (κ) and total plasma cholesterol is shown in e along with the Pearson correlation coefficient (r), p value and a linear regression line modelling the correlation with 95% confidence intervals (CI). The correlation is not significant (p > 0.05). P values comparing the HFD versus control were calculated using the Student’s t test