Figure 4. (-)-Epicatechin prevents TNFα-induced PPARγ downregulation in differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes.
3T3-L1 adipocytes were incubated without or with (-)-epicatechin (EC) (0.5-10 μM) for 4 h, and subsequently in the absence or presence of 20 ng/ml TNFα for further 24 h (PPARγ protein levels) or 2 h (PPARγ-DNA binding). A- Representative image and quantification of Western blots for PPARγ and β-tubulin in total cell extracts, and B- Representative image and quantification of PPARγ-DNA binding in nuclear fractions as determined by EMSA. A,B- Bands were quantified and results were referred to untreated cell values (Arbitrary unit=1). For Western blots (A), results were expressed as the ratio PPARγ/β-tubulin protein levels. Results are shown as mean ± SEM of 3 independent experiments. Values having different superscripts are significantly different (p<0.05, one way ANOVA test).