Figure 4.

Emodin lowered blood glucose and improved the glucose tolerance of ob/ob mice. ob/ob mice were subjected to intraperitoneal injection twice daily with vehicle (0.5% Tween 80), 25 mg/kg emodin or 50 mg/kg emodin for 26 d. A pair-fed group was set by providing the ob/obmice each day with the amount of food eaten by freely fed 50-mg/kg emodin-treated mice. Random-fed blood glucose concentrations (A) and fasting blood glucose concentrations (B) were measured on day 16 and day 20. Glucose tolerance (C and D) was determined on day 20 of the treatment. Values are expressed as the mean±SEM. ^bP<0.05, ^cP<0.01 vs vehicle group; ^eP<0.05, ^fP<0.01 vs 50-mg/kg emodin pair-fed group; n=8.