Fig. 4
Effects of samples on morphology, apoptosis, and insulin secretion of pancreatic tissue in diabetic mice. a Morphology of pancreatic islets stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), and the average islet size. Black arrows denote islets. b TUNEL staining and positive islet cell number. Red arrows denote apoptotic β-cells. c Representative images of insulin immunohistochemical staining and relative average optical density (AOD) values. Relative AOD means the average insulin of islet cells in the treated group relative to the N group. N: normal control group (db/m mice); M: model group (db/db mice); CR TD, CR DG, SC TD, SC DG, and P: the db/db mice treated with CR TD, CR DG, SC TD, SC DG, and metformin. Data were expressed as the mean ± SD (n = 6 mice per group). ###p < 0.001 versus N group; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 versus M group; +p < 0.05 versus SC TD group. Data were analyzed by one-way-ANOVA.