FIGURE 6.

Chronic fenretinide treatment improves glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity in diet-induced obese mice. Male mice (C57Bl/6) were made obese by HFD for 12 weeks prior to 4-week FEN treatment administered in drinking water (10 μg/ml). Following the treatment period, intraperitoneal glucose (1g/kg of body weight) and insulin (0.75 units/kg of body weight) tolerance tests were conducted. A and B, FEN treatment resulted in improved glucose (A) and insulin (B) tolerance when compared with HFD alone (area under curve (AUC) also shown). *, p < 0.05 for HFD+FEN versus HFD. Fasting insulin and glucose were used to determine the HOMA-IR. C, HFD-fed mice had a significantly elevated HOMA-IR value when compared with animals fed SD, and this was reduced in the HFD+FEN group. D, body weight increased on HFD, but was unaffected by FEN. *, p < 0.05 for treatment versus SD. +, p < 0.05 for HFD+FEN versus HFD (n = 6).