Figure 5

Mice were provided ad libitum access to high fat diet (HFD) lacking or containing 0.14% ursolic acid (UA) for 6 weeks. Data are means ± SEM. *P<0.05 by t-test. (A) Interscapular fat pads were harvested and dissected into white fat and brown fat components, which were then weighed. n = 10 mice per diet. (B) Protein from the entire interscapular fat pad was isolated and subjected to SDS-PAGE and immunoblot analysis with anti-UCP1 and anti-actin antibodies. Upper: representative immunoblots. Lower: UCP1 and actin levels were quantitated with densitometry. In each mouse, the UCP1/actin ratio was normalized to the average UCP1/actin ratio in mice fed HFD lacking UA, which was set at 1. n = 8 mice per diet. (C) Cold tolerance test. Following 6 weeks of HFD ± UA, a baseline rectal temperature was obtained at 21°C (t = 0 hours). Mice were then moved to 4°C, where rectal temperature was measured hourly. n = 8 mice per diet.