Figure 2

Effect of cobalt-protoporphyrin IX (CoPP) on lipid accumulation, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) expression and activity, and cytokine levels. (A) Pictures of lipid droplets of a representative sample in the presence of increasing CoPP concentrations. Adipogenesis was measured as the relative absorbance of Oil Red O at day 14 after inducing adipogenesis as described in Materials and methods (mean ± SD, *P < 0.05 vs control). (B) Western blot analysis of HO-1protein expression in response to increasing concentration of CoPP treatment (0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 5.0, 10.0 μm). Data are expressed as means ± SD; n = 4 (*P < 0.05 vs control). (C) HO activity measured by CO formation (**P < 0.05 vs control). (D-E) Effect of CoPP on cytokine levels in control and cells treated with CoPP. CoPP was added every 2 days for 2 weeks, and cultured media samples were obtained immediately before the media was changed. Results are calculated as pg/ml of cultured media for TNF-α (D) and μg/ml for adiponectin (E) (*P < 0.05 versus control).