Sheng-jiang powder ameliorates obesity-induced pancreatic inflammatory injury via stimulating activation of the AMPK signalling pathway in rats

Math 1 Math(A1).

Figure 1 Histological images and pathologic scores of pancreatic tissues from the three experimental groups. A: Pathological images of the pancreatic tissues (× 200); B: Histological scores of the pancreatic tissues. The results are presented as the mean ± SD. ^aP < 0.05 vs NG; ^bP < 0.05 vs HLG. NG: Normal group; HLG: High-fat diet group; HSG: High-fat diet group treated with Sheng-jiang powder.

Figure 2 Levels of serum adiponectin. The results are presented as the mean ± SD. ^aP < 0.05 vs NG; ^bP < 0.05 vs HLG. NG: Normal group; HLG: High-fat diet group; HSG: High-fat diet group treated with Sheng-jiang powder.

Figure 3 Nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells and transforming growth factor beta expression in pancreatic tissues. A: Nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) expression in pancreatic acinar cells and inflammatory cells; B: Immunohistochemistry assay for NF-κB expression; C: Immunohistochemistry assay for TGF-β expression. Negative: Blue; Positive: Yellow-brown. The results are presented as the mean ± SD. ^aP < 0.05 vs NG; ^bP < 0.05 vs HLG. NF-κB: Nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells; TGF-β: Transforming growth factor beta; NG: Normal group; HLG: High-fat diet group; HSG: High-fat diet group treated with Sheng-jiang powder; N/P ratio: Nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio; AC: Acinar cells; IC: Inflammatory cells.

Figure 4 Results of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labelling staining of pancreatic acinar cells. A: TUNEL staining images of pancreatic acinar cells; B: Apoptotic index of pancreatic acinar cells. Negative: blue; positive: yellow-brown. The results are presented as the mean ± SD. ^aP < 0.05 vs NG. TUNEL: Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labelling; NG: Normal group; HLG: High-fat diet group; HSG: High-fat diet group treated with Sheng-jiang powder group; CON: Negative staining control group.

Figure 5 Immunofluorescence results of fibronectin and type I collagenase expression in cells growing on glass coverslips from each group. I: Nuclear staining of rat pancreatic stellate cells (blue fluorescence); II: Fibronectin staining (green fluorescence); III: Type I collagenase staining (red fluorescence). A: Normal PSC (VLDL-, culture supernatant-); B: PSC stimulated directly with VLDL (VLDL+, culture supernatant-); C: PSC stimulated with normal acinar cell culture supernatants (VLDL-, culture supernatant+); D: PSC stimulated with acinar cell culture supernatant treated with VLDL (VLDL+, culture supernatant+); E: PSC stimulated with acinar cell culture supernatant treated with SJP (VLDL+, culture supernatant+, SJP+); F: PSC stimulated with acinar cell culture supernatant treated with Compound C (VLDL+, culture supernatant+, Compound C+); G: PSC stimulated with acinar cell culture supernatant treated with Compound C and SJP (VLDL+, culture supernatant+, SJP+, Compound C+). PSC: Pancreatic stellate cell; VLDL: Very low-density lipoprotein; SJP: Sheng-jiang powder.