Fig. 4

The suppressive activity of PPE against adipogenesis in the early phase of adipocyte maturation. a Time schedule for the culture with fraction No. 9 during the cellular differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells. 3T3-L1 cells which reached confluence were cultured with IDM for 2 days. The medium was changed every 48 h to fresh medium containing insulin until day 8. Fraction No. 9 was added during days 0–8, days 0–2 or days 3–8. After the cells were stained with Oil Red O, the culture plate was photographed (b) and lipid droplets in the cells were imaged with a bright field microscope (c), and then the extracted Oil Red O was quantified by measuring its absorbance at 492 nm (d). Vehicle represents the cells cultured with PBS instead of fraction No. 9. Experiments were performed in triplicate, and the data are presented as the mean ± SEM (n = 3). ***p < 0.005 vs. Control. Experiments were repeated at least three times, and representative results are shown