OBJECTIVETo study the correlation of coronin-1 and mycolic acid (MA)-induced foam cell formation of macrophages and explore its possible mechanism.METHODSAccording to the difference of coronin-1 expression level, the experiment included three types of cells: RAW264.7-Cor.Plus, RAW264.7 and RAW264.7-Cor.Minus. After the cells were treated with the polystyrene microspheres coated with 100 μg/mL MA for 24 hours, total proteins were extracted and the level of coronin-1 in each group was detected by Western blotting. With the microspheres coated with 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 μg/mL MA as phagocytic particles, the cells were swallowed for 24, 48, 72 hours, 5 and 8 days before and after the treatment with 2 μmol/L cytochalasin D (ctyD), and the levels of total cholesterol (TC) and free cholesterol (FC) were tested by TC enzyme kit and FC enzyme kit, respectively; then the cholesterol ester (CE) and the CE/TC ratio were used to quantitatively evaluate the level of foam cell formation. The ctyD-treated cells (RAW264.7-ctyD, RAW264.7-ctyD-MA) and their control groups were stained with FITC-phalloidin, and then the percentage of F-actin rearrangement was calculated.RESULTSAfter MA induction, the coronin-1 level of the three experimental groups were significantly higher than that of the corresponding control groups, and there was also obvious difference between the three experimental groups (RAW264.7-Cor.Plus>RAW264.7>RAW264.7-Cor.Minus). The level of foam cell formation of macrophages in each group with different coronin-1 level was positively correlated with the MA coating concentration and its phagocytic time. The highest coronin-1 expression group (RAW264.7-Cor.Plus) had the highest foam cell formation level, and the lowest coronin-1 expression group (RAW264.7-Cor.Minus) had the lowest foam cell formation level. The inhibition of F-actin by ctyD significantly decreased the foam cell formation induced by MA, but the inhibition of F-actin had no significant impact on the positive correlation between coronin-1 and the foam cell formation induced by MA. After phalloidin staining, the F-actin rearrangement rate of MA-treated cells was significantly higher than that of non-MA control cells.CONCLUSIONMA could induce the expression of coronin-1 of macrophage, and the coronin-1 level was positively correlated with the foam cell formation induced by MA. F-actin was involved in the process of lipid accumulation in MA-treated macrophages, but the F-actin was not the key or the only way in coronin-1 regulating the foam cell formation induced by MA.