Altered distribution of regulatory lymphocytes by oral administration of soy-extracts exerts a hepatoprotective effect alleviating immune mediated liver injury, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and insulin resistance

Figure 3 Effect of soy extracts on the high-fat diet/MCD mouse model of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. A: The effect of oral administration of soy extracts on fasting serum glucose levels measured on weeks 0, 7 and 13. Glucose levels improved in all treated groups compared to the controls, and the effect was more profound in the 3 μg M1 and 6 μg OS, and 9 μg M1 and 18 μg OS treated groups (^eP < 0.01, ^gP < 0.001 vs control); B: Hepatic triglyceride content was measured in all mice at the end of the study. The combination of 9 μg M1 and 18 μg OS treated groups was associated with significant reduction of hepatic fat content (ⁱP < 0.05 vs control); C: Representative HE (magnification × 10) sections from liver biopsies performed from all groups at the end of the treatment period; D: The pathological NAS score was performed on liver sections from all groups at the end of treatment. A significant improvement was noted in mice in all treated groups (^fP < 0.001, ^hP = 0.0001 vs control); E: FACS analysis was performed on splenocytes for NKT and CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T lymphocytes. Both regulatory lymphocyte subsets significantly increased in the spleen of mice treated with the combination of 9 μg M1 and 18 μg OS (^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.005 vs control).