Fig. 3.

Bifidobacterium longum APC1472 improved glucose tolerance, leptin plasma levels and stress-induced corticosterone circulating levels in high-fat diet-induced obesity in mice. (A and B) Glucose tolerance test (GTT) glucose curve and area under the curve (AUC) after 1 g/kg glucose challenge, (C and D) non-fasting and fasting insulin plasma levels, (E) fasting leptin plasma levels, (F) epididymal fat insulin receptor substrate (IRS)−1 mRNA expression and (G) fasting-induced corticosterone plasma in control mice treated with drinking water containing sterile PBS (2% v/v) and glycerol (0.5% v/v) and fed a control low-fat diet (LFD) (n = 10 in A, B, C, E, F and G) or a high-fat diet (HFD) (n = 9 in A, B, C, D, E and G; n = 8 in F) and in mice treated with B. longum APC1472 in drinking water (2 × 10⁸ CFU/mL) and fed a LFD (n = 9 in A, B, C, D, E and F; n = 8 in G) or a HFD (n = 9 in A, B, C, D, E and F; n = 8 in G) for 15 (A, B,C) or 16 weeks (D, E, F and G). Data are shown as mean ± SEM. Data are significant different (p<0.05) accordingly to Repeated Measures ANOVA (A) or two-way ANOVA followed by LSD post-hoc test (B, C, D, E, F and G). * indicates significant diet treatment effect (*p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001) and ^# indicates significant B. longum APC1472 treatment effect (^#p<0.05, ^##p<0.01).