## 2 Materials and Methods
### Experimental Procedures and Treatments  
After receiving the animals from Taconic Biosciences, they were allowed two weeks of acclimatization. For mating purposes, female and male ApoE\({}^{-/-}\) mice were kept overnight at a 2:1 ratio. Pregnancy was confirmed by the presence of a vaginal plug, and the pregnant mice were randomly divided into three groups: control (CN), BPA, and BPA and Rsv (n = 8 in each group). BPA (>99% purity, Sigma-Aldrich, St Louis, MO, USA) was e introduced in drinking water at a dose level of 1 \(\upmu\)g/mL. To prepare BPA solution, BPA was dissolved in ethanol, and then diluted to achieve a final concentration of 0.1% (\(v/v\)). In the BPA and Rsv group, mice received an oral dose of 20 mg kg\({}^{-1}\) day\({}^{-1}\)[34; 35] and BPA in their drinking water at the concentration of 1 \(\upmu\)g/mL [36]. The drinking water bottle was changed once every two days. The Rsv (R5010, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) was initially dissolved in ethanol and the resulting stock solution was stored in a refrigerator for future use. For the oral treatment, the Rsv dose was freshly prepared every day by diluting the stock to a final concentration of ethanol of 0.5% (\(v/v\)). The reference doses of BPA and Rsv were selected based on previous study findings [34; 35; 36]. The control group mice received the vehicle used, i.e., ethanol in drinking water (0.1%) and oral treatment (0.5%). The pregnant mice were exposed to BPA and Rsv throughout the pregnancy and lactation periods. Following weaning, the male and female offspring were separated from their mother and housed in separate cages. The offspring were allowed to grow until they reached 20 weeks of age. At the end of the 20 th week, offspring mice (n = 30 male and n = 30 female) were weighed and asphyviated by carbon dioxide inhalation. In each, following dissection of the chest cavity, the heart was explored. Perfusion was performed with ice-cold phosphate buffer saline through the apex of the heart. The organs, including the heart, liver, and left kidney, were removed, weighed, and subsequently used for histological analysis. The brachiocephalic artery was collected for histological analysis.  
Histological Evaluation of Lesion Characteristics, Arterial Wall Thickness, and Elastic Preservation  
The initial 2 mm length of the brachiocephalic artery was cut from the arch of the aorta carefully and fixed in 10% buffered formalin and then processed for paraffin embedding and sectioning. For the morphometric analysis, six sections (4 \(\upmu\)m thick) from each mouse for all mice in the experimental groups were taken using a rotatory microtome. There was a 24 \(\upmu\)m interval (6 sections apart) between adjacent sections. The sections (4 \(\upmu\)m-thick) were processed for hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Verhoeff-van Gieson staining. Seven visual fields from each section were used for the morphometric analysis. H&E-stained slides were examined under the light microscope to evaluate the characteristics of atherosclerotic plaques and arterial wall thickness. Arterial wall thickness was measured as described previously [37]. The stained slides were scanned using a Ziss Axioskop 2 plus microscope equipped with AxioVision Software (R 4.8.2 SP1) to obtain 200\(\times\) digital images. Using the ImageJ J (1.51j8) program (National Institutes of Health), the thicknesses of the tunica intima and tunica media, respectively, were measured in the digital images, and their mean ratio was determined. The Verhoeff-van Gieson-stained slides were scanned for the presence of elastic breaks and quantified as described previously [38]. The elastin breaks were confirmed by the presence of an interruption in the elastin fiber along with the reappearance of continuous elastic fibers.