PONE-D-23-29456DFMG reduces the angiogenesis to maintain the plaque stability by inhibiting TLR4/VEGF pathway in atherosclerosisPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Bai,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

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Arvin Haj-Mirzaian

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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 " This study is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (grant. no. 81370382), and Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (grant. no. 14JJ2059 and 2022JJ30415). ZY and LLS are authors who received awards."

  

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Additional Editor Comments:

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Please add ethical section and prepare all below information:

Ethical Considerations:

All research must adhere to the highest ethical standards. For studies involving animal models, it is imperative that all efforts be made to minimize suffering and reduce the number of animals used, and to justify the species and number of animals used. Authors must clearly state that they have conducted their studies ethically, and they should be prepared to provide evidence of ethical approval by an appropriate committee.

Animal Studies:

For this paper authors must declare that the study was conducted in compliance with the Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments (ARRIVE) guidelines. The ARRIVE guidelines provide a checklist of information that should be included in publications reporting animal research, with the aim of improving the reporting standards and ensuring that the data can be thoroughly evaluated.

The ARRIVE guidelines encompass the following key areas:

Study design

Sample size

Animal characteristics

Housing and husbandry

Experimental procedures

Outcome measures

Statistical analysis

Euthanasia Method:

In accordance with the ARRIVE guidelines and ethical treatment of animals, authors must specify the method used for euthanasia of mice. This should include details such as the type of agent used (e.g., barbiturate overdose, carbon dioxide inhalation), the concentration and volume of the agent (where applicable), the method of administration, and any measures taken to ensure that euthanasia is performed as humanely as possible. Justification should be provided for the chosen method, referencing the most recent guidelines for humane killing provided by organizations such as the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) or equivalent bodies.

Authors should also ensure that the personnel performing euthanasia are adequately trained and competent in the procedures used.

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Authors must state explicitly that the research protocol was approved by an institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) or equivalent body. The name of the ethics committee that approved the study and the reference number/protocol ID should be provided.

Conflict of Interest:

Authors must declare any potential conflicts of interest relating to their research.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: 1-The title could be changed to "DFMG possibly reduces the angiogenesis …" with this small sample size.

2-Please explain " ImageJ" to the readers who are not familiar with it.

3-In many cases, excessive use of abbreviations can confuse and alienate unfamiliar audiences, and even well-intentioned writers and speakers may overestimate an audience's familiarity with abbreviations. Although abbreviations should not be avoided entirely, using them as a default can be problematic. This manuscript is full of familiar and unfamiliar abbreviations. You should explain each of your abbreviations the first time it appears in the main text, but have not any explanation about some abbreviations, such as miR-140, CCK8, LDH, RPMI-1640, WB, RT-qPCR, lipo2000, IHC, WT group, …. It is one of the rules of providing information for your readers.

4-In contrast, after the first appearance of the abbreviation, the abbreviation should always be used in the rest of the manuscript instead of the complete term. However, you re-explained "DFMG" in the last paragraph of 3.7 or "AS" in the discussion section, line 2.

5-In general, an abbreviation should be used if the term appears at least five times in the main text (The Abstract does not count). If you use the term or phrase only two, three or four times, it should not be abbreviated.

6-What is the meaning of "blank group"?

7-Where is "Table 1"?

8-The methodology needs to be clarified. You explained "methodology" in the "discussion" section; unfamiliar readers (such as clinicians) are confused about in vivo or in vitro study, the number of groups, the sample size in each group, the rational of any particular type of laboratory study, …, before reading discussion. For instance, you should mention the purpose of each study after you did it for your readers because readers may have a different line of attitude from you.

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6. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

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[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

PONE-D-23-29456R1DFMG may potentially decrease angiogenesis to preserve plaque stability by inhibiting the TLR4/VEGF pathway in atherosclerosisPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Bai,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Mar 28 2024 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Arvin Haj-Mirzaian

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal Requirements:

Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: 1- "… counted by ImageJ (ImageJ is a java-based … of Health (NIH)." can be revised as "… counted by ImageJ [ImageJ is a Java-based … of Health (NIH)]."

2- You mentioned, "We uploaded Table 1 in the article," but the location of "Table 1" is not specified.

3- Kindly provide an explanation regarding the number of groups and the corresponding sample size in each group.

Reviewer #2: Dear Editor,

On the manuscript entitled: DFMG may potentially decrease angiogenesis to preserve plaque stability by inhibiting the TLR4/VEGF pathway in atherosclerosis.

Comments:

This is an interesting study. Authors addressed comments raised by reviewers however some issues should be clarified before acceptance.

1- There are various typo errors in the text.

2- Mice add to the title

3- “Detection of blood lipids in mice” change to “Detection of blood lipids”

4- Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR change to “quantitative Real-time PCR”

5- Method for anesthesia should be clarified. What did you mean from “The next day, the mice were anesthetized by abdominal cavity”?

6- Discussion should be began with your core finding.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

**********

[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

DFMG decreases angiogenesis to uphold plaque stability by inhibiting the TLR4/VEGF pathway in mice

PONE-D-23-29456R2

Dear Dr. Bai,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

An invoice will be generated when your article is formally accepted. Please note, if your institution has a publishing partnership with PLOS and your article meets the relevant criteria, all or part of your publication costs will be covered. Please make sure your user information is up-to-date by logging into Editorial Manager at Editorial Manager® and clicking the ‘Update My Information' link at the top of the page. If you have any questions relating to publication charges, please contact our Author Billing department directly at authorbilling@plos.org.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

Dr. Arvin Haj-Mirzaian

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE