Fig. 3

NS5A disrupts lipid metabolism and induces hepatic steatosis in vitro. a The mRNA expression levels of SREBP-1c and FASN in Hepa1–6 cells were quantified by real-time PCR and relative expression values were normalized to those of β-Actin. b Western blotting analysis of lipogenic gene expression in NS5A-expressing Hepa1–6 and HepG2 cells. c Levels of p-AMPKα, SREBP-1, FASN and ACC1 were quantified by densitometry and compared with those of AMPK1/2 or β-Actin. d Representative images of lipid accumulation in NS5A-transfected HepG2 cells with Oil Red O staining. e Oil Red O extracted with isopropanol was measured at OD520. The values represent the mean ± SD of three experiments. Mock: non-transfected cells; Vector: the cells transfected with empty plasmid; NS5A: the cells transfected with NS5A expressing plasmid. NS (no significance), *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001