Fig. 5.

Exposure to either IL-6 or TNFα inhibited FITC-insulin uptake by cultured bAECs. Cultured bAECs were serum starved in the absence or presence of IL-6 or TNFα (20 ng/ml each) for 24 h before incubation with 50 nM FITC-insulin (INS) for 30 min. Cells were then processed for immunocytochemical staining. A: confocal images (single optical sections) stained using anti-FITC primary antibody (revealed by Cy3). B: average fluorescent intensity of individual cells measured by Image J software (counting 15 randomly selected cells in each of 3 independent experiments). *P < 0.05 vs. all other groups. −INS, incubated in basal medium only.