Euglycemia in Diabetic Rats Leads to Reduced Liver Weight via Increased Autophagy and Apoptosis through Increased AMPK and Caspase-3 and Decreased mTOR Activities

Figure 6

Western blot analyses related to the regulation of cell growth/proliferation and apoptosis in liver tissue. (a) The ratio of pERK-1 to ERK-1. (b) The ratio of cleaved to mature caspase-3. The blots shown are representative of triplicates. Data are presented as means ± SD and were analyzed with one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post hoc test unless marked with an asterisk indicating that the unpaired t-test was used. 19S: sham-operated rats fed standard chow ad libitum (protein 19.4, carbohydrate 68.8, and lipid 11.8 kcal%); 19AL: pancreatectomized diabetic rats fed standard chow ad libitum; 19R: pancreatectomized diabetic rats fed calorie-controlled standard chow to achieve euglycemia during the diet control period; 6R: pancreatectomized diabetic rats fed a calorie-controlled low protein diet (protein 6.0, carbohydrate 82.2, and lipid 11.8 kcal%) to achieve euglycemia during the diet control period.