FIGURE 4.

The increase in TET2 and autophagy and reduction in lipid accumulation by empagliflozin are dependent on AMPK activation. HL7702 cells were treated with or without PA and HG, with or without empagliflozin, in the presence or absence of AICAR or compound C (A) Representative images of Oil Red O staining and (B) quantitative analysis of TGs. Scale bar represents 30 μm (C, I) Western blot analyses of p-AMPK, AMPK, TET2, ATG5, Beclin-1, and p62 with β-actin as a loading control and (D–H, J–N) densitometric analyses of band intensities normalized to β-actin. Data in (B, D–H, J–N) are presented as means ± SEM from three independent experiments. Empa, empagliflozin; HG, high glucose; NC, negative control group; ns, not significant; PA, palmitic acid; TG, triglyceride. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.