Figure 2.

Systemic and local inflammation is aggravated by dietary vitamin D deficiency. Balb/C mice were fed with four conditions for 18 weeks as described in Figure 1. (A) Plasma TNF-α levels were measured by an ELISA kit. (B–D) In the visceral fat tissue, the mRNA levels of TNF-α, PAI-1, and MCP-1 were measured by RT-qPCR analysis. (E,F) In the pancreas, the mRNA levels of MMP13 and TNF-α were determined by RT-qPCR analysis. (G) Plasma, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels. (H) Lymphocyte infiltration in the liver was determined by CD3 staining. Data represent two independent experiments (n = 6–10 mice/group for each measurement). Error bars represent the SEM of samples within a group. ^*p ≤ 0.05, ^**p ≤ 0.01 in comparison with the control.