Figure 1

AICAR inhibits 3T3L1 adipocyte differentiation in a dose dependent manner. The differentiating 3T3-L1 cells were treated with AICAR at various concentrations for 9 days (from day 0 to day 9). Intracellular lipid was stained with Oil Red O (a). To determine the extent of adipose conversion, 0.2 ml of isopropanol was added to the 12 well plates. The extracted dye was immediately removed and its optical density was monitored spectrophotometrically at 510 nm (b). Results are the mean ± SD of three determinations. $, p < 0.001 as compared with untreated cells; NS, not significant; ***, p < 0.001 as compared with untreated differentiated sample.