Figure 8.
Quercetin and allopurinol suppress SREBP-1c, SREBP-2, FAS and LXRα in STZ-induced diabetic rat liver and high glucose (HG)-exposed hepatocyte cells. Representative RT-PCR (A) or Western blot (B) results and graphic presentation showed hepatic mRNA or protein levels of SREBP-1c (C and G), SREBP-2 (D and H), FAS (E and I) and LXRα (F and J) at week 7 after STZ injections in different groups of rats as indicated respectively. The data are expressed as the means ± SEM (n = 4). +++P < 0.001 versus rat normal control; *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 versus rat diabetic control. Moreover, BRL-3A and HepG2 cells were cultured with or without HG (30 mM) or quercetin and allopurinol in the presence or absence of caspase-1 inhibitor Ac-YVAD-CMK (20 uM) for the indicated time, and then cellular lysate was used to measure caspase-1, SREBP-1c, SREBP-2, FAS and LXRα protein levels (K and L) by Western blot (n = 4). The data are expressed as the means ± SEM. +++P < 0.001 versus cell control; **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 versus cell HG control or HG + Ac-YVAD-CMK.