Fig. 4
Effects of ADSCs on liver injury and hepatic mitochondrial stress in vivo. a FGF21 and TGF-β1 levels in the liver. b AGEs in the serum and livers. c TEM analysis (the upper is 7500X and the lower is 20000×). The accumulation of lipid droplets, marked by the arrow in red, was decreased in the diabetic rats compared to the NC group. TEM images of liver sections from the STZ group showed mitochondrial deformation and vacuolization, swollen mitochondria with disrupted cristae and dilation of the endoplasmic reticulum, while representative images of the ADSC group illustrated the hepatoprotective effect of ADSC treatment. Mitochondria were marked by “*”, and endoplasmic reticulum was marked by “#”. d Mitochondrial swelling test. Liver mitochondria were isolated, and Ca2+ (1 µmol/mg protein)-induced mitochondrial swelling was measured and expressed as the percentage decrease in the initial optical density (OD) at an absorbance of 540 nm. The severity of swelling is represented by the slope of the curve. *p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01 versus the NC group, #p < 0.05 and ##p < 0.01 versus the STZ group