Fig. 6
Effect of sitagliptin on liver fibrosis in rats fed atherogenic diets. SD rats were fed Con or high Cho 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). Hepatic gene expression of Tgfb (a), Tlr4 (b), Tlr2 (c), a-sma (d), Mmp9 (e) and Timp1 (f) 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. Rat liver sections stained with picrosirius red were observed under polarized light microscope (g). Rats on high Cho and gavaged with sitagliptin exhibited dense collagen fibers (yellow colored). A profound decline in the collagen content was demonstrated in MetCho group as compared to Cho + Sitagliptin group (g)