Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT) (A) and Insulin Tolerance Test (ITT) glycemia responses (B) increase in high fat diet-fed mice.

<p>Glycemia AUC, area under the curve (AUC) analysis of glycemia profile of GTT and ITT after eight weeks of diet regimen. Values are expressed as mean ± SEM (10–28 mice/group). * p < 0.05, control group (C) <i>vs</i>. high fat diet group (HFD).</p

Islet apoptosis increases in HFD-PBS and HFD-MSCs-NR and decreases in HFD-MSCs-R.

<p>Representative images of pancreas section stained for caspase-3 of control group (A) and HFD-PBS (B), HFD-MSCs-R (C), and HFD-MSCs-NR (D) groups. Quantitative data correspond to mean ± SEM (5–13 mice/group) (E). * p < 0.05, control group (C) <i>vs</i>. HFD-PBS; ^# p < 0.05, HFD-MSCs-R <i>vs</i>. HFD-PBS; ⁺ p < 0.05, HFD-MSCs-NR <i>vs</i>. HFD-PBS; ^& p < 0.05, HFD-MSCs-NR <i>vs</i>. HFD-MSCs-R.</p

Experimental groups and study design.

<p>Eight weeks after high fat-diet or standard diet regimen (control group), mice received 4 weekly intraperitoneal (i.p) infusions of PBS (HFD-PBS group) or 5–8 x 106 BM-MSC (HFD-MSC group). Fasting glycemia (FG) was determined every week and glucose (GTT) and insulin (ITT) tolerance tests were performed in the 9^th, 17^th, 21^st, 25^th, and 29^th week of the experimental period.</p

Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT) glycemia response decrease post-MSCs infusion.

<p>Only in the 16^th week post-MSC infusions, the glycemia response to glucose injection was significantly lower in HFD-MSCs-R when compared to HFD-PBS group. Values are expressed as mean ± SEM (5–13 mice/group). * p < 0.05, control group (C) <i>vs</i>. HFD-PBS; ^# p < 0.05, HFD-MSCs-R <i>vs</i>. HFD-PBS.</p

Fasting glycemia decrease since the 7^th week post-MSCs infusion.

<p>Fasting glycemia of HFD-MSCs-R mice was significantly lower compared to HFD-PBS since the 7^th week post- MSC infusion. Values are expressed as mean ± SEM (5–13 mice/group). * p < 0.05, control group (C) <i>vs</i>. high fat diet group (HFD-PBS); ^# p < 0.05, HFD-MSCs-R <i>vs</i>. HFD-PBS.</p

Bone marrow-derived MSCs isolated from <i>Wistar</i> rats.

<p>Immunologic phenotypes of MSCs (A). Passage five plastic adherent cells cultured in alpha-MEM supplemented with 15% fetal bovine serum (B) and differentiated into adipogenic (C) or osteogenic (D) lineages.</p

Fasting glycemia decrease post-MSCs infusion.

<p>Sixteen weeks after the 4^th infusion of BM-MSCs, 72.2% (n = 13) of the animals attained fasting glycemia lower than 180 mg/dL (responders). Post- infusion fasting glycemia of these mice was significantly lower than their pre-infusion values. * p < 0.05, pre-<i>vs</i>. post-infusion of BM-MSCs fasting glycemia.</p

Islet proliferation decreases in high fat diet-fed mice.

<p>Representative images of pancreas section stained for Ki67 of control group (A) and HFD-PBS (B), HFD-MSCs-R (C), and HFD-MSCs-NR (D) groups. Quantitative data correspond to mean ± SEM (5–13 mice/group) (E). * p < 0.05, control group (C) <i>vs</i>. HFD-PBS.</p

Body Weight (g).

<p>Values are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 5–13 mice/group).</p><p>*p < 0.05, HFD-PBS <i>vs</i>. C.</p><p>Body Weight (g).</p

Serum insulin levels increase in high-fat-diet fed mice.

<p>Values are expressed as mean ± SEM (5–13 mice/group). * p < 0.05, control group (C) <i>vs</i>. high fat diet infused with PBS (HFD-PBS).</p