Fig. 4. Ablation of β-catenin in mature adipocyte improves metabolic homeostasis.

(A) Glucose tolerance test after 16-hour fasting in 24-week HFD-fed control and ABKO mice (n = 13 for each group). (B) Quantification of area under the curve (AUC) for glucose tolerance test. (C) Insulin tolerance test after 6-hour fasting in 24-week HFD-fed control and ABKO mice (n = 13 for each group). (D) Quantification of AUC for insulin tolerance test. (E) Fasting plasma Insulin levels of 26-week HFD-fed control and ABKO mice (n = 8 for each group). (F) Left: Western blot of p-Akt and total Akt (t-Akt) in iWAT of 26-week HFD-fed control and ABKO mice fasted for 16 hours. Right: Quantification of p-Akt/t-Akt ratio (n = 6 for each group). (G and H) Plasma triglyceride (G) and total cholesterol levels (H) in 26-week HFD-fed control and ABKO mice (n = 13 for each group). (I) Representative images of hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining of liver in 26-week HFD-fed control and ABKO mice. Scale bars, 100 μm. (J) Liver triglyceride content quantification (n = 13 for each group). (K) The mRNA expression of macrophage markers F4/80, Cd68, and Cd11c in iWAT of 26-week HFD-fed control and ABKO mice (n = 13 for each group). (L) Left: Representative cell sorting of F4/80⁺Cd11b⁺ cells from iWAT SVF of 26-week HFD-fed control and ABKO mice by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). Right: Quantification of the percentage of F4/80⁺Cd11b⁺ cells to Cd45⁺ cells in SVF of iWAT (n = 4 for each group). (M) mRNA expression of the indicated M1 macrophage markers in iWAT of 26-week HFD-fed control and ABKO mice (n = 13 for each group). (N to P) Plasma levels of Leptin (N), Resistin (O), and Pai-1 (P) in 26-week HFD-fed control and ABKO mice (n = 8 for each group). IPGTT, intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test; ITT, insulin tolerance test; ABKO, Adiponectin-cre;β-catenin^flox/flox; HFD, high-fat diet. Data are shown as means ± SEM. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.