Effects of DHA (A), AICAR (B) or cardamonin (C) treatment on NF-κB-regulated inflammatory responses of Bmal1-dLuc fibroblasts to palmitate (PAL; 250 μM). Bar graphs depict real-time fluorometric analysis of cells transfected with an inducible NF-κB-responsive GFP construct that were treated with DHA (50 μM), AICAR (500 μM) or cardamonin (5 μM) in advance of and/or during palmitate (250 μM) administration for 4 h at hour 12. Effects of treatment with DHA, AICAR or cardamonin alone (DHA + BSA, AICAR + BSA, CARD + BSA) on NF-κB activity were also tested. Control cultures were treated with BSA or vehicle (DMSO) and BSA (VEH + BSA). Plotted values denote determinations of GRP signal intensity (mean ± SEM) in each treatment group (n = 5) that were normalized to the average signal for controls, which was arbitrarily set at 100%. Asterisks indicate that palmitate-induced NF-κB activity was significantly decreased (p < 0.05) in Bmal1-dLuc fibroblasts treated with DHA (DHA + PAL), AICAR (AICAR + PAL) or cardamonin (CARD + PAL) in comparison with those exposed to palmitate alone (BSA + PAL or VEH + PAL).