Fig. 1. Celastrol protects rats against diet-induced obesity. Diet-induced obese (DIO) Sprague-Dawley rats were orally administered vehicle or celastrol (500 µg/kg) every day for 3 weeks. (A) The body weight and (B) percent decrease (%) in the body weight of the DIO rats during the treatment period (n=8 for vehicle group; n=7 for celastrol group). (C) Representative H&E staining of abdominal white adipose tissue (WAT) and the liver. The results of the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) of the rats before (D) and after (E) the treatment period. (F) The serum triglyceride levels of the rats after 3 weeks of treatment. The results of the insulin tolerance test (ITT) of the rats before (G) and after (H) the treatment period. (I) The serum cholesterol levels of the rats after 3 weeks of treatment. The error bars represent the standard error of means. The P values were determined by (B) Dunnett's post hoc test or (D–I) Student's t-test. NS, not significant. ^aP<0.05.