Fig. 5

UC-MSCs alleviated insulin resistance in IL-1β^–/– HepG2 cells. WT and shRNA-IL-1β HepG2 cells were added to PA–LPS with or without UC-MSC preincubation. (a–d) Inflammatory cytokines were determined using RT-PCR. (e–g) Cleavage of IL-1β, IL-18, and TNF-α in media analyzed by ELISA. (h) Caspase-1 activity assay of WT and shRNA-IL-1β HepG2 cells in three groups. (i) Immunoblot analysis of relative protein levels. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. # represents statistical significance between the blank and UC-MSC preincubated shRNA-IL-1β HepG2 cells.  Images are representative of three independent experiments in WT and shRNA-IL-1β HepG2 cells respectively. IL interleukin, LPS lipopolysaccharide, PA palmitic acid, TNF tumor necrosis factor, UC-MSC umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cell