Etifoxine, a TSPO Ligand, Worsens Hepatitis C-Related Insulin Resistance but Relieves Lipid Accumulation

Figure 1

Effects of etifoxine on SEAP activity, cell viability, MMP, and viral and TSPO protein levels. (a) Huh7.5-SEAP cells (4 x 10⁴) were infected with 0.01 MOI of HCV and treated with etifoxine (0.01-25 μM) in a 24-well plate for 6 days after treatment. Supernatants were collected for determining SEAP activity as a reflection of the quantitative evaluation of HCV infection. Data were analyzed by plotting the signal obtained as relative light unit (RLU) in which the HCV positive control is set to one-fold. (b) Cell viability obtained from 8 × 10³ cells/group was examined with a commercial MTS assay kit. (c) Huh7.5-SEAP cells (8 × 10³) infected with HCV were seeded in a 96-well plate and added with etifoxine (0.01-1 μM) for 6-day incubation or 25 μM of CCCP for 2 h. After cells were added with JC-1 dye and incubated for 30 min in dark place, data was calculated with the ratio of red fluorescence divided by green fluorescence. (d) Cell lysates (7 × 10⁵) were collected and the core, NS3, TSPO, and β-actin levels were detected by Western blot. Data are expressed as mean ±SD obtained from three individual experiments. < 0.01 and < 0.001 vs. the medium control group; ^#p < 0.05 and ^##p < 0.01 vs. the HCV-infected Huh 7.5-SEAP group.