Fig 5.

The effects of berberine hydrochloride on the levels of Gck (A), G6pc (B), Pck1 (C) and Srebp-1c (D) in hepatocytes from Zucker fatty rat. Primary hepatocytes from ZF rats were treated with either vehicle or berberine hydrochloride (1 to 25 μM) for 6h in the absence or present of 1 nM insulin. Total RNAs were extracted and subjected to real-time PCR analysis. The gene expression level in control group without insulin was arbitrarily assigned as 1. Results represented means ± SD of three independent experiments (* for comparing the fold induction of the indicated transcript at the berberine hydrochloride concentration in the absence with that in the presence of insulin; for Gck, f>d>a, e>a, e/f>b, d'/e'>a'/b'; for G6pc, g>i>k, g>j/l, h>j/k/l, and g'/h'>i'/k'/l'; for Pck1, m>n/r>p/q, and m>o; all P<0.05).