Fig. 3

MEP effects on adipose tissue (epididymal) histology, lipogenic and adipogenic gene expression. Adipocyte morphology was analyzed by H&E staining and the size of the adipocyte was estimated via ImageJ software. 100 mm scale bar. A The variations of adipocyte histology in different treatment groups are shown in H & E images. B Adipocyte area distribution suggests that HFD has a larger area of adipocytes (> 20,000 mm²). In comparison, the MEP-supplemented groups showed smaller adipocytes (20,000 mm2) in size. C qRT-PCR was used to determine the effect of MEP treatment on the mRNA expression levels of lipogenic and adipogenic genes PPARy, aFABP, FAS, CD68, and F4/80 in adipose tissue. Data are presented as mean ± SEM (n = 8). By using One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Tukey’s multiple comparison, Significant differences were presented using at ^#p < 0.05, ^##p < 0.01, ^###p < 0.001, ^####p < 0.0001 vs. Control group and *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001 **** p < 0.0001 vs. HFD group