Fig. 2.

As(III) effects on adipose fat storage, fat droplet coat protein expression, and ectopic fat storage in skeletal muscle. Male mice were exposed to 0 (control) or 100 μg/l As(III) in drinking water for 5 weeks. At the end of exposure, epididymal fat and tibialis anterior muscle were collected for histological analysis (H&E stain of paraformaldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded, or cryopreserved thin sections, respectively) and Western analysis of PLIN1 expression. (A) Morphology of epididymal fat in control and As(III)-exposed mice showing relative size of adipocytes captured at ×10 magnification. The graph presents mean ± SEM number of adipocytes measured in three separate microscopic fields from eight mice in each group (B). The immunoblots show expression of PLIN1 and β-actin in the epididymal adipose tissues with protein in each lane isolated from individual mice. The graph presents mean ± SEM of the relative band density of PLIN1 normalized to β-actin (** represents significance at p < 0.01 as determined by t-test). (C) Cross-sections of tibialis anterior muscle compare morphology of muscle fibers and perivascular fat droplet deposition (×20 magnification). The images represent muscle images taken from eight mice in each group.