Figure 1.

Ginger-derived nanoparticles (GDNP) inhibit the phosphorylation of Foxa2 in intestinal epithelial cells. A. PKH-26 (red)-labeled GDNP uptake by small intestine epithelial (A33 positive/green) cells as shown by confocal 3D imaging. Enlarged image of cells containing labeled GDNP (PKH26/red) shown by red arrows (n = 5/group). B. Representing the alteration of gene expression in the Affymetrix array of small intestinal (SI) tissues from high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice treated with either PBS or GDNP. Red boxes highlight the genes involved in insulin signaling and lipid metabolism (n = 3/group). C. Normalized (to β-actin) qRT-PCR quantification of Foxa2 mRNA expression in the mouse small intestine (SI) and large intestine (LI) (n = 5/group). D. Confocal images of frozen sections of the small intestine showing Foxa2 expression (green) and DAPI for nucleus staining (blue) (n = 5/group). E. Western blot representing total Foxa2 expression in mouse small intestine tissues (n = 3/group). F. Corresponding densitometry analysis of the western blot for Foxa2 protein expression (expressed as the ratio to β-actin expression). G. Upregulation of Foxa2 mRNA (bar graphs, left panel) and protein (western blot, right panel) expression in GDNP-treated mouse colon (MC-38) and human colon (Caco2) cell lines. The ratio to β-actin shown in the middle (numbers). Data represent three independent experiments. One-way ANOVA with the Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons and student t test (one tailed) were used to calculate statistical significance (p value *<0.05; **<0.01; ***<0.001).