Figure 4.

Effects of dietary astaxanthin levels on lipid metabolism of juvenile Portunus trituberculatus fed the experimental diets for 8 weeks. (A) crude lipid content of hepatopancreatic and muscle; (B) Lipid metabolism-related enzyme activities in hepatopancreas. Data are presented as means ± SEM of three replicates. Mean values in the same row with different superscript letters are significantly different (p < 0.05). FAS, fatty acid synthase; CPT, carnitine palmitoyl transferase; (C) represent sections stained with oil red O staining photographed under 200× and 400× light microscope (scale bar, 100 μm or 50 μm respectively) in hepatopancreas, effects of dietary astaxanthin at (a) 0, (b) 24.2, (c) 45.8, (d) 72.4, (e) 94.2 and (f) 195.0 mg/kg respectively.