Figure 4.

Effects of overexpressing OB-Rb or, as a control, β-gal in pancreatic islets of 10-week-old obese fa/fa ZDF rats. (A) Expression of OB-Rb mRNA by RT-PCR and protein by immunoblotting. (B) Effects of 20 ng/ml recombinant leptin on Bcl-2 mRNA levels in islets cultured for 24 h with 1 mM FA. Bars represent the mean ± SEM of the Bcl-2/β-actin mRNA ratio. ∗, P < 0.01 vs. 0 mM FFA; †, P < 0.01 vs. 1 mM FA. (C) Effect of 20 ng/ml recombinant leptin on DNA fragmentation in pancreatic islets for 24 h with 1 mM FA. DNA laddering as a percentage of total DNA is indicated by the numbers.