Fig. 3

Establishment of constitutive HBx expression and Oil red-O staining in HepG2 cells. HepG2 cells were transfected with pRT-HBx-GFP. HepG2-HBx-GFP cells with and without DOX were observed under a fluorescence microscope (a). Expression of the HBx-GFP fusion protein in HepG2-HBx-GFP cells with and without DOX treatment (DOX(−) and DOX(+), respectively) was determined by western blot analysis using a GFP-specific antibody. β-actin was included as an internal control (b) After selection of G418-resistant colonies, cell proliferation with and without DOX treatment and with and without naringenin (Nar, at the indicated concentrations) was assessed by MTT assay (c). HepG2-HBx-GFP cells with and without DOX were treated with or without Nar at the indicated concentrations for 24 h. Intracellular lipid droplets in HepG2 cells were stained with Oil Red O and visualized by light microscopy (Olympus, Tokyo, Japan) (d)