Figure 4.

Effect of adiponectin on BeWo cell proliferation. A. Adiponectin inhibited proliferation of BeWo cells as determined by the CCK-8 assay. Bar graph shows the extent of BeWo cell proliferation upon various treatments. No significant change was found for the high mannitol compared with the normal glucose control groups. The proliferation of the high glucose group was increased markedly compared with the controls. The proliferation of the high glucose + adiponectin group was decreased significantly compared with the high glucose group. B. The cell cycle distribution of BeWo cells after different treatments. Statistically significant differences between samples were observed using the Student’s t-test (P < 0.05). C. Adiponectin down regulates the expression of PCNA. Immunocytochemistry for PCNA was performed at the end of the incubation period. DAPI staining was used to visualize the nuclei. D. Image analysis was performed to quantify the percentage of positive cells (blue nuclear staining). Mean ± SEM of 3 independent experiments done in triplicates is presented *, #, P < 0.05.