Fig. 4. Reversion of defective lipid homeostasis by recombinant FGF21 protein. (a) The experimental process of in vivo study. (b) Representative ORO and HE staining results of liver sections after co-treatment with TAC and recombinant FGF21 protein. (c‒e) TG, HDL-c, and LDL-c levels in mouse plasma. (f) Representative ORO staining results in HepG2 and AML12 cells after TAC treatment for 48 h with or without recombinant FGF21 co-treatment. (g) TG contents in HepG2 and AML12 cells. Scale bar=20 μm. Data are shown as mean±SD, n=3. ^* P<0.05, ^** P<0.01, ^*** P<0.001; n.s.: not significant. FGF21: fibroblast growth factor 21; ORO: Oil Red O; HE: hematoxylin-eosin; TAC: tacrolimus; NC: negative control; TG: triglyceride; LDL-c: low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; HDL-c: high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; rmFGF21: recombinant mouse FGF21; SD: standard deviation.