Figure 3

Inhibition of COMT during gestation contributes to glucose tolerance defects. (a) Western blot analysis of COMT protein level in the liver of pregnant and non-pregnant mice. Representative blot from 5 blots is shown. Cropped images were displayed and original blots are shown in the figure Supplementary 11. (b) Densitometric analysis of MB-COMT and S-COMT. Data were normalized to GAPDH. N = 5 were analyzed. (c) IPGTT analysis of pregnant, Ro-treatment and 2-ME (10 ng)-intervened Ro-treated mice groups at day 16 of pregnancy. Ro41-0960 treatment with or without 2-ME interventions were performed during day 10 to day 16 of the pregnant mice. Control N = 4, Ro41-0960 N = 3, and Ro41-0960 + 2-ME N = 3 were analyzed. (d) Insulin level was estimated at 0, 15-, 30-, 45- and 60-min time intervals. (e) Resistance index. N = 3 were analyzed in each mice group. The results are shown as the mean ± s.e.m. and are indicated in the figures. COMT inhibitor (Ro41-0960) was designated as Ro in the figure. The results in the figures are shown as the mean ± s.e.m. The Mann-Whitney test was carried out to determine of statistical significance. Prism7.0 software was utilized for the statistical calculation. Membranous COMT is designated as “MB-COMT”, whereas soluble COMT is designated as “S-COMT”.