Fig. 4.

DLA-M absorbs endotoxin and decreases endotoxemia. Box-plots of the endotoxins (a), TNFα and IL-6 (b) concentrations in the serum of the same mice as in Fig. 1. (c) The liver mRNA expression levels of TNFα, IL-6 and COX-2 were measured by real-time PCR. (d) The liver TLR-4, IκB-α and NF-κB protein production was examined by western blotting and relative protein level was normalized with β-actin. (e) Under a whole-body imaging scope, the RFP mice were separately treated with DLA-M (1 g/kg) and FITC-LPS (5 mg/kg) by gavage for 4 h. (f) DLA-M absorbs FITC-LPS in vitro (the first panels). Gastrointestinal content smears of mice in (e) in different tissues (stomach, duodenum, jejunum, ileum, cecum and colon); in the middle panels, LPS appear green, and the lower panels show polarized light microscopy images of DLA-M crystals (scale: 20 μm). LPS (5 mg/ml) dissolved in PBS was treated with 0–400 mg/ml DLA-M, laumontite and maifanite for 6 h: the LPS content (g) in the supernatant was examined. Values are shown as the mean ± s.e.m. *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01; and ***, P < 0.001 compared with NCD. #, P < 0.05; and ##, P < 0.01 compared with HFD by ANOVA with Tukey's multiple comparison test.