Figure 1.

Groundsel bush promotes lipid accumulation and adipocyte marker gene expression in 3T3-L1 cells. (A) Six days after 3T3-L1 preadipocytes were induced to differentiate using the standard induction cocktail in the presence or absence of 50 µg/mL of groundsel bush, RNA was isolated, purified, and subjected to RT-qPCR; (B) In a separate experiment, 3T3-L1 preadipocytes were induced to differentiate using half-strength induction cocktail containing 5, 20 or 50 µg/mL of groundsel bush (GB). Six days post-induction, cells were fixed and then stained with Oil Red O (photograph in top panel; all of the wells were from the same 12-well plate, and brightness and contrast were equally adjusted for all wells). Staining was quantified by measuring absorbance at 520 nm after extraction of stain in isopropyl alcohol (bottom panel; n = 2 wells per treatment). Fold change (FC) was calculated by normalizing the data against the DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) vehicle control. Rosiglitazone (Rosi) was used as a positive control in (B). Results shown are from duplicate cell culture wells, and the experiment was repeated two additional times on independent batches of 3T3-L1 cells.