FIGURE 5.

Liraglutide attenuates lipid accumulation by enhancing autophagic flux in vitro. (A). Primary mouse hepatocytes were co-incubated with PA and different concentrations of liraglutide for 24 h. Expression of LC3-II and p62 was analyzed by western blot. (B). Evaluation of autophagic flux in Ad-mRFP-GFP-LC3-infected cells with or without CQ treatment. (C). After Ad-mRFP-GFP-LC3 infection, HepG2 cells were pretreated with PA and liraglutide for 20 h, followed by 4 h of co-treatment with 50 μM of CQ. The ratio of mRFP to GFP per cell (n = 10) was calculated (scale bars = 20 μm). (D) Lipid droplets were detected by labeling with lipid dye BODIPY 493/503 (green) in primary mouse hepatocytes treated with or without liraglutide and CQ. Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue) (scale bars = 10 μm). (E) Intracellular TG content was measured. The data are expressed as mean ± SEM. *P < 0.01, **P < 0.05 vs. BSA group; ***P < 0.01 vs. PA + LG group; ^#P < 0.01, ^##P < 0.05 vs. PA group; ^&P < 0.01 vs. PA + LG group.