Fig. 2

L-theanine alleviates nonalcoholic liver steatosis in HFD-induced mice. C57BL/6J mice were fed normal control diet (NCD), HFD or HFD supplemented with L-Theanine for 16 weeks, mice were gavaged with 300 mg/kg L-theanine once a day for 16 weeks, saline were gavaged as control. A Body weight gain curves of mice in indicated groups. B Macroscopic images of liver in mice. C Representative images of H&E and Oil Red O staining of liver tissue sections are shown. Scale bar: 50 μm (20 ×). D Activity score of NAFLD. Grades of steatosis are as follows: 0, no steatosis; 1, mild; 2, moderate; 3, severe; 4, very severe. Hepatic TG (E) and TC (F) contents of liver were measured by commercial kits and expressed as milligrams per gram of tissue. G Serum concentrations of ALT, AST, TG, TC, LDL-C and HDL-C in indicated groups. Values are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 8). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001 versus NCD group; ^#p < 0.05, ^##p < 0.01, ^###p < 0.001 versus HFD group, n.s.: not significant (p > 0.05) versus HFD group