Figure 2.

ACAT1/2 overexpression impaired 3T3-L1 differentiation. A–C, the mRNA levels of aP2, PPARγ, C/EBPα, and Pref1 during differentiation. The status of differentiation was assayed by examining the mRNA levels of adipose-specific genes when overexpressing WT ACAT1 and ACAT2 (A), stable mutant of ACAT2 (ACAT2-C277A) (B), and catalytic dead mutants of ACAT1/2 (C). D and E, Oil red O staining of adipocytes on day 8 of differentiation. Two-tailed Student's t test was used (means ± S.D.; n = 3). *, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01; ***, p < 0.001; ****, p < 0.0001; ns, no significance.