Fig. 4

Lycopene supplementation increased intestinal ZO-1 and occludin expression and reduced intestinal permeability in HFD-fed ApoE^−/− mice. ApoE^−/− mice were fed a low-fat diet, a high-fat diet supplemented with or without 0.1% lycopene (w/w) for 19 weeks. (A, B) Immunohistochemical results of ZO-1 and occludin protein expression in the ileum were presented in the form of pictures (200×magnification), as described in Materials and Methods. The browner the color, the higher the protein expression. (C, D, E, F) The protein expression of ZO-1 and occludin in the ileum was determined by Western blotting. Results are representative of three independent experiments. It was analyzed by Image J software. Expression values were normalized to housekeeping gene GAPDH, and expression in the control group was set to 1. Data are presented as the mean ± SD (n = 8 per group); ^ap < 0.05 compared with the control group; ^bp < 0.05 compared with the high-fat diet group. (G, H, I) Intestinal permeability index such as LPS, D-LA and DAO was analyzed by SPSS software. One-Way ANOVA statistical method was used for calculation, and LSD and SNK methods were used for inter-group comparison. Data are presented as the mean ± SD (n = 8 per group); ^ap < 0.05 compared with the control group; ^bp < 0.05 compared with the high-fat diet group. HFD, high-fat diet; LY, lycopene