Fig. 1

Effect of FGF21 deficiency on muscle weights and expression of atrophic factor-related genes/proteins in skeletal muscle of HFD-fed obese mice. FGF21-deficient and WT mice were fed an HFD for 12 weeks. (a) Expression of FGF21 mRNA in skeletal muscle. (b) Total muscle tissue weight (gastrocnemius, quadriceps, tibialis anterior, and soleus) from the experimental mice. (c) Histological analysis of quadriceps and mean diameters of muscle fibers from WT and FGF21-deficient mice fed an HFD. Sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin. The diameters were determined with microscope AxioVision software. Magnification is × 200, Scale bar; 50 μm. The levels of muscle atrophic marker (Atrogin-1, MuRF1) (d) mRNA and (e) proteins in skeletal muscle. Results are means ± SEM (n = 4 mice per group). *P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01 compared with WT mice fed an HFD