Fig. 2: Overproduction of Activin B improved glucose metabolism in obese mice.

a, b Blood glucose (a) and plasma insulin levels (b) of DIO mice treated with Ad-LacZ or Ad-INHBB during GTT. c Blood glucose levels during ITT. n = 8 per group. d–f Blood glucose (d) and plasma insulin levels (e) of DIO mice treated with Ad-INHBB with or without Ad-FSTL3 during GTT. f Blood glucose levels during ITT. Ad-LacZ; n = 8, Ad-INHBB; n = 7, Ad-INHBB + Ad-FSTL3; n = 8. g Relative expression levels of Inhibin β subunits (Inhba, Inhbb, Inhbc, and Inhbe) in liver. n = 5 per group. h–k Relative expression levels of Inhbb gene in the liver of ad libitum fed, fasted, or refed mice (h, n = 5), fractionated liver of wild-type mice (i, n = 5), isolated CD11b+ cells and CD146+ cells (LSECs) from the liver of ad libitum fed (white bars) or fasted (black bars) mice (j, n = 3), or in liver tissues of conditional Inhbb knockout mice (k, the sample size (n) is indicated within the graph.). l–s Metabolic phenotyping in DIO mice treated with AAV-TBG-EGFP or AAV-TBG-INHBB mice. l, m Body weight changes (l) and ambient blood glucose levels (m). EGFP; n = 14, INHBB; n = 18. n–p Blood glucose levels during GTT (n, n = 8) or ITT (o, EGFP; n = 8, INHBB; n = 6) and plasma insulin levels during GTT in (n). q Whole-body energy expenditure measured in a metabolic cage. n = 8 mice per group. r Relative expression levels of genes in BAT. GFP; n = 6, INHBB; n = 8. s Representative images of H&E staining of BAT. Data were shown as mean ± SEM. Statistical significance was determined by unpaired two-tailed Student’s t-test (a, g, n, r); two-way ANOVA with Šídák’s (a–c, l–n, o–q), or Dunnett’s (d–f) multiple comparison test; one-way ANOVA Sidak’s multiple comparison test (h) as compared to the respective control group. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. #p < 0.05, ##p < 0.01, ###p < 0.001 versus Ad-INHBB treated mice in (d–f). Source data are provided as a Source Data File.