Figure 3

Obesity results in local tissue and perilymphatic inflammation. (a) Representative immunofluorescence co-localization (upper panel) of CD3⁺ cells (green) and LYVE-1⁺ vessels (red) in ear skin whole mounts harvested from NCD- and HFD-fed C57BL/6J and MSTN^ln mice. Blue stain is DAPI (scale bar=30 μm). Quantification of perilymphatic CD3⁺ cells in skin ear cross-sections of NCD- (open circles) and HFD- (filled circles) fed mice in all groups (lower panel). C57BL/6J HFD vs NCD (*P<0.0001, n=4 quadrants × 4–5 animals/group). MSTN^ln and BALB/cJ mice showed no significant difference between NCD and HFD groups. (b) Representative immunofluorescence co-localization (upper panel) of CD11b⁺ cells (green) and LYVE-1⁺ vessels (red) in ear skin whole mounts harvested from NCD- and HFD-fed C57BL/6J and MSTN^ln mice. Blue stain is DAPI (scale bar=30 μm). Quantification of perilymphatic CD11b⁺ cells in skin ear cross-sections of mice fed NCD (open circles) or HFD (filled circles) in all groups (lower panel). C57BL/6J HFD vs NCD (*P<0.0001, n=4 quadrants × 5 animals/group). MSTN^ln and BALB/cJ mice showed no significant difference between NCD and HFD groups. (c) Quantification of VEGF-C protein levels in serum harvested from lean and obese C57BL/6J mice (n=10/group, *P<0.05). (d) Quantification of VEGF-C protein levels in back skin tissues harvested from lean and obese C57BL/6J mice (n=6–10/group, *P<0.003). (e) Quantification of TNF-α protein levels in back skin tissues harvested from lean and obese C57BL/6J mice (n=4–6/group, *P<0.05). (f) Quantification of IL-1β protein levels in back skin tissues harvested from lean and obese C57BL/6J mice (n=5/group, *P<0.03).