Fig. 2

Treatment with the SL extract reduces hepatic lipid accumulation in HFD-fed mice. Mice were divided into five groups as follows: Mice in the first group were fed a normal diet (ND) for 4 weeks (4 weeks’ ND group). Mice in the second group were fed a high fat diet (HFD) for 4 weeks (4 weeks’ HFD group). Mice in the third group were fed the ND for 8 weeks and administered 500 μL of distilled water without the SL extract using a feeding needle daily for the last 4 weeks (ND group). Mice in the fourth and the fifth group were the HFD for 8 weeks and were administered 500 μL of distilled water with or without the SL extract (350 mg/mL) by a feeding needle daily for the last 4 weeks (SL extract group; HFD group, respectively). a The change in body weight in the ND, HFD, and SL extract groups during the feeding period of 8 weeks. There was no significant difference in body weight between the HFD group and the SL extract group. b The three groups were humanely sacrificed at 8 week. The treatment with the SL extract reduced the hepatic lipid accumulation in HFD-fed mice. Liver was stained by Oil Red O and visualized under a microscope. Scale bars indicate 50 μm. c The hepatic triglyceride (TG) levels in the SL extract group at 8 weeks were lower than those in HFD group at 8 weeks. On the other hand, there was no significant difference in the hepatic total-cholesterol (T-CHO) content between the five groups. Data are expressed as the mean ± SEM of five mice (4 weeks’ ND group, 4 weeks’ HFD group, and ND group), nine mice (HFD group) and nine mice (SL extract group). Statistically significant differences between groups were determined using ANOVA; *p < 0.001, n.s.: not significant