Fig. 5

Effect of sitagliptin on hepatic steatosis in rats fed atherogenic diets. SD rats were fed Con or Cho or MetCho diets ad libitum. As described in methods, from day 10 to 35, 50% of rats in each dietary group were gavaged with either vehicle or an aqueous suspension of sitagliptin (100mg/kg/day). Sections from the largest lobe of the liver from each animal was used for H&E staining. Liver morphology of H&E stained liver sections from each group is represented (5A). Rats fed Cho and gavaged with vehicle or sitagliptin developed significant steatosis which was reduced by Met (a). Corresponding frozen liver sections were stained with Oil red O and maximum lipid deposition was observed in livers of rats fed high Cho followed by MetCho group. Sitagliptin was without effect on lipid deposition (b). Scale bars = 100 μm. Commercial ELISA kit was used for determination of triglyceride content in the liver of each rat group (c). Hepatic gene expression of Cd36 (d) and Klf2 (e) were measured. Data are represented as the mean ± SEM (n = 7–8 per group) and means annotated with different letters differ at p < 0.05