Fig. 2.

Effects of different hesperetin concentrations on the viability of THP-1 macrophages. (a) Cells were treated with gradient dilutions of hesperetin (0–1000 μmol/L) and subjected to cell viability experiments using the MTT method. The effect of hesperetin on lipid accumulation in THP-1 macrophage foam cells. THP-1 macrophages were treated with 80 μg/mL ox-LDL alone or in combination with hesperetin (10 μmol/L, 50 μmol/L and 100 μmol/L) for 24 h. Control cells were cultured for the same time without any treatments. (b) Representative microscopy images of Oil Red O-stained lipid droplets at a magnification of × 200. (c) Semiquantitative analysis of intracellular lipid contents based on the absorbance of intracellular dye extracted with isopropanol at 492 nm. The results are reported as the means ± SD from five independent experiments performed in triplicate. *p < 0.05 and ** p < 0.01 compared with control; Δ p < 0.05 and ΔΔ p < 0.01 compared with treatment with ox-LDL alone