Figure 4.

PPAR-γ signaling promotes Treg differentiation involved in macrophages. (a, b) Peritoneal macrophages (1 × 10⁶) were treated with pioglitazone (10 μg/ml) with or without SEA (25 μg/ml). The expression of CD80⁺F4/80⁺ or MHCII⁺F4/80⁺ was evaluated by flow analysis. (c) CD4⁺ (CD3⁺CD4⁺) T cells from normal mice were prepared by magnetic-activated cell sorting. Flow analysis results show that purity was ~94%. (d, e) Macrophages were treated with pioglitazone (10 μg/ml) with or without SEA (25 μg/ml) and cocultured with purified CD4⁺ T cells for 24 h, then Treg (CD4⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺) cells were analyzed by FACS. (f) After peritoneal macrophages (1 × 10⁶) were treated with pioglitazone (10 μg/ml) with or without SEA (25 μg/ml), the percentage of M2 macrophages (CD206⁺F4/80⁺) was evaluated by flow analysis. All experiments were repeated three times with similar results (ANOVA/LSD), ^∗P < 0.05 and ^∗∗P < 0.01.