Fig. 3.

GF2 attenuates alcoholic inflammatory responses by increasing Tregs and decreasing IL-17 producing Th17 cells. Isolated liver mononuclear cells (MNCs) from three groups (pair-fed, EtOH-fed, and EtOH + GF2) of WT mice were subjected to flow cytometry or quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis. (A) Frequencies of infiltrated macrophages (F4/80⁺CD11b⁺) and neutrophils (Gr1⁺CD11b⁺) were assessed and compared among groups. (B) Frequencies of hepatic lymphocytes such as CD4⁺ T cells, CD8⁺ T cells, NK cells, and NKT cells were analyzed. (C) Frequencies of Tregs (CD4⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺) and CD4⁺IL-17⁺ cells were compared. (D) mRNA expression of diverse inflammation-related genes was evaluated in isolated liver MNCs. Data are expressed as the mean ± SEM. ∗p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01 compared to the corresponding controls. The results represent three independent experiments. GF2 = ginsenoside F2; IL = interleukin; NK = natural killer; NKT = natural killer T; Tregs = regulatory T cells.