Immunoblotting analysis of hepatocyte AQP9.

Immunoblots were carried out using the sinusoidal fraction of hepatocyte plasma membrane prepared by gravitational approach from the livers of obese mice and lean littermates as described in Materials and Methods. (A) Representative immunoblot for AQP9 normalized against the expression of the housekeeping protein ß-actin. Immunoreactive bands of 32 and 37–43 kDa, corresponding to the core (coreAQP9) and glycosylated (glycoAQP9) forms of AQP9, respectively, are detected. (B) Densitometric analysis of AQP9 immunoreactivity. Between the two forms of AQP9, the glycosylated one is that undergoing the strongest reduction. The expression of whole AQP9 (coreAQP9 plus glycoAQP9) in lean mice is arbitrarily assumed as 100%. Data are mean ± S.E.M. (n, 6). *P < 0.01.